Museum Review: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum - Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

So now that I am living just outside of Washington, D.C., I feel obligated, nay, privileged, to partake of the various offerings available to me.

Today we embarked on our first museum visit – the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum - Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. There are 2 Air and Space Museums in the area, because they can’t fit everything into one place. This is the smaller one of the two.

It’s got lots of cool stuff, and you can do it in under a day.

Here’s a Pros and Cons list if you’ve got limited time and are considering this as one of your stops:

PROS:

• You can do the whole thing in half a day
• Admission is $12 per car. Nice if you’ve got a mini-van full of family and a tight budget.
• Some pretty cool displays (Concorde, Blackbird, and a SPACE SHUTTLE)
• The IMAX movie about going to Mars was pretty cool – just for the science – nothing really special in terms of IMAX

CONS:

• IMAX showings and Simulations are extra costs (and the IMAX video starts with 5 minutes of IMAX pimping)
• If you want to eat, your choices are McDonalds, and the McDonalds Café, which serves… McDonalds and Boston Market.
• The simulator was super cheesy and didn’t deliver the experience it advertised. Seriously guys – go to Vegas, go to the Star Trek Museum, check theirs out, and then hire their people.

I have to say the coolest part of the day hands down was when we went into the space area and were checking out the Enterprise shuttle. At first I couldn’t believe it was a real shuttle, because it seriously looks like a bunch of large lego blocks. The cool part, though, was that there were NASA guys there working on it. There was a sign that read:

WHAT WE’RE DOING TODAY:
Today we are reassembling part of the Enterprise shuttle that was used as part of the recreation to help determine the cause of the shuttle Columbia crash.

That’s when the whole thing seemed real. And suddenly, I wished every plane, engine, and computer part on display was actually doing something – either having someone operate it, paint it, tweak it, turn it, I don’t know, anything – with a sign that says, we’re doing something significant here – watch us do something important. Be inspired.

[Side rant: This is why I struggle with museums – they have lots of cool stuff but you can’t touch it, feel it, smell it, play with it. It has no life force. There’s no one standing next to it showing you how it was used throughout that time. I’m not talking about those super cheesy automatons in colonial garb churning butter – I’m talking about NASA guys reassembling the Enterprise shuttle because when things went bad for another shuttle, they used this one to help them learn. That is wicked cool. ]

To sum up: base cost and time spent make for a good half-day with the family. Skip the simulators.

It’s a lot of walking, which it good exercise, but may be hard on littler kids or older folks, but there are lots of seats built into the railings for each exhibit barrier, so it’s doable for all.

Next month I’m off to the most depressing museum with my mom - The Holocaust Museum.