The Udvar-Hazy exhibit, located at Dulles Airport in DC, is where the Smithsonian Institution exhibits historic air and spacecraft that won't fit into the Air and Space Museum at the National Mall. Among the air and space craft exhibited at Udvar-Hazy are the Air France Concorde, the Boeing Dash Eighty, and the Space Shuttle Discovery.
Photos below the orange cumulus cloud. (LOTS of photos--if you're not an aviation history fan, your eyes may glaze over; if you are, then grab a cup of joe or brew, relax, and enjoy.)
The Space Shuttle "Discovery".
Discovery's cockpit
Space Shuttle Main Engines.
The Spacelab module that was carried in the Shuttle's main cargo bay and used for scientific experiments.
The Mars Pathfinder lander and the Sojourner rover. Landed on Mars in 1997.
Gemini VII spaceship.
The Mobile Quarantine Facility, used to isolate the Apollo 11 astronauts to prevent them from bringing any potential pathogens from the moon to earth. The moon was found to be entirely sterile, and the MQF was not used for the last flights.
Redstone rocket engine. The Redstone was the US's first long-range nuclear missile. In 1961, the Redstone booster was used for the suborbital Mercury Missions that put Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom into space.
Agena docking target. It was used by Gemini flights to practice space docking. The docking port was covered by the conical shroud, which fell away after reaching orbit.
An Apollo "boilerplate" command module used for testing. This one is fitted with flotation collar and inflated "righting spheres" at the top, designed to turn the capsule over if it landed upside down.
An intact Mercury spacecraft, complete with retro-rocket package. Built for a planned Mercury 10 mission, it was mothballed when the mission was cancelled.
An anthropomorphic mannequin used to test early Mercury spaceships in flight.
Udvar-Hazy Air Transportation hangar.
Junkers Ju-52/3M. Used as a German passenger airplane by Lufthansa in the years before World War Two, in 1939 it was converted to a troop transport.
Boeing 307 Stratoliner. Introduced in 1940, it was the first passenger liner with a pressurized cabin.
Boeing 367-80 "Dash-Eighty". Prototype jet developed in the 1950's, released as the civilian Boeing 707 jetliner and the military KC-135 tanker.
Lockheed L-1049F Super Constellation. 1951. A passenger airliner, also produced in a military transport version as the C-121C (pictured here).
Air France Concorde, supersonic passenger liner.
Pitts Special S-1C "Little Stinker", an aerobatic competition plane from the 1940's.
J3 Piper Cub. Manufactured from 1937 to 1947, it became one of the most widely-used of all general aviation aircraft.
Piper PA-18 Super Cub, 1955.
Cessna 180. Produced from 1953 to 1981. In 1964, Geraldine Mock flew this Cessna, the "Spirit of Columbus", to become the first woman pilot to fly around the world.
Bell 206L-1 Longranger II, "The Spirit of Texas". First helicopter to fly around the world, 1982.
Fulton FA-3-101 Airphibian. Built in 1946, the Airphibian was made in two pieces--customers could drive the front piece like a regular car, and attach the rear piece for flight.
Control Car C-49, from the Goodyear Blimp.
Beechcraft Bonanza Model 35. Introduced in 1947, the Beechcraft was distinctive because of its V-shaped tail combining elevators and rudder. This plane, the "Waikiki Beech", flew nonstop from Hawaii to New Jersey in 1949.
Sukhoi Su-26M, a Russian-made aerobatic plane produced from 1984.
F8F-2 Bearcat. Designed as a replacement for the F6F Hellcat, the F8F was one of the last propeller-driven fighters to be produced by the US. Too late to fly in World War Two, the Bearcat lasted almost until the Korean War, when it was replaced by the jet-driven F9F Panther. This Bearcat, the "Conquest 1", was converted to a civilian air racer, and set a speed record for propeller-driven planes in 1969, of 483mph.
P-51C Mustang, "Excalibur III". A military fighter converted to civilian use, "Excalibur III" set several post-war speed records.
