The OTHER Air and Space Museum

So, for anyone like myself who didn't already know this-there are TWO National Air and Space Museums, which we discovered shortly after moving here. The first is of course on the National Mall, and Henry's favorite of those on "Smithsonian Row." The second is located near the Dulles Airport, about a 45 minute drive, and houses some incredible aircrafts--most notably the Discovery space shuttle, an SR-71 Blackbird, and even Enola Gay (and probably others that my dad would drool over.)

The Museum is huge, as they all are, but this one really felt like an aircraft hanger, and because of the location, there were some school groups and families but the space combined with location made it feel like we had the run of the place.

Both kids enjoyed the flight simulator of landing the space shuttle and Henry particularly loved climbing around in and controlling a Cessna.

Personally, the space shuttle was the most humbling to see. To see something that close that has left our planet and returned was, well, out of this world.


They have a really cool observation deck that let's you watch planes take off and land from Dulles and allegedly, also listen to the Air Control Tower. I guess it was lunch time as we saw zero planes and heard zero chatter, which would have been neat, but c'est la vie.

I'd definitely recommend this Air and Space Museum in addition to the one in DC to anyone who may be visiting and has even a remote interest in space or flight-it does not disappoint!