The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is the companion to the National Air and Space Museum, located on the mall in downtown Washington, D.C. It opened in December 2003 and provides much more space than the downtown museum to display airplanes, space vehicles and other artifacts of interest to the museum-going public.
It includes the Boeing Aviation Hangar, which offers an assortment of the most notable airplanes created since the invention of manned flight. There's also the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar, which has rockets, spacecraft, satellites and the complete Gemini VII spacecraft and Space Shuttle Enterprise.
An observation tower overlooks the planes coming and going from Dulles Airport, and the museum has an IMAX theatre, flight simulators, food court and museum store. Free tours, educational outings and school group activities are available. See the Web site for details.
Admission is free, but guests have to pay for parking. Shuttle service is provided from the downtown museum.