National Air and Space Museum

The National Air and Space Museum is part of the Smithsonian Institution and the most visited aviation museum in the world. Founded in 1946 as the National Air Museum, expanded to space in 1966, it runs two public sites. The flagship building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., opened in 1976 for the U.S. bicentennial, holds the original 1903 Wright Flyer in which the Wright brothers achieved the first powered flight, Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis and the Apollo 11 command module Columbia. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport in Virginia opened in 2003 and shows more than 170 aircraft at full scale, including the only surviving SR-71 Blackbird, a Concorde airliner and the Space Shuttle Discovery. Admission to both buildings is free; since the 2022 renovation the Washington site requires a timed-entry pass. Both venues are classic family destinations and can be combined into a single day trip.