Tracing The Discovery Shuttle – At The Smithsonian Space Museum

NASA’s pride, the Discovery space shuttle reached the Washington DC Smithsonian space museum – the Steven F. Udvar Hazy Center in April 2012. The space shuttle now shines like a jewel at the James S. McDonnell Space Hanger at the airbase.

This marvel of history showcases the technical prowess of NASA’s space ventures through the years. The Discovery space shuttle flew 39 times over a period of 30 years. And its carried 251 crew to space within its 365 days in space.

smithsonian space museum

There she stands, towering over everything and everyone, outshining all other exhibits at this massive space hanger.

When it arrived at the Chantilly Smithsonian space museum, it was greeted with its sister shuttle, the Entreprise in a flaring ceremony complete with band performances and astronauts. This event was documented well by a strong media campaign and festivities around Washington DC.

smithsonian space museum
Space shuttles Enterprise and Discovery nose-to-nose at the ownership transfer ceremony between NASA and the Smithsonian

See the official videos of the Discovery landing in DC in 2012:

You can see the Discovery right when you enter the Smithsonian space museum – and it looks like an aged, but still sturdy mother of space craft. Even after ample restorations, you can say this ship has reached the end of its road. Quite a few ash marks wrinkle up the nose and rear combustion engines to tell the story of a life well served.

smithsonian space museum
smithsonian space museum
smithsonian space museum

Reading about the craft in advance does help build up the excitement towards seeing the real thing. But you can educate yourself at the museum also.

Save time at the museum with these tips!

Here’s a video of all you can expect to see at this air and space museum on our YouTube channel: 

The discovery rests amidst many of the USA’s most daring space adventures such as the landing on Mars. Other rovers including the Apollo, Columbia and other missiles are also on display at the museum. But these exhibits tend to change locations between the two sister Smithsonian space museums.

See what else you can see at the James S. McDonnell Space Hanger at the Smithsonian space museum in Chantilly here.

Did you know there’s also an IMAX theatre at this space museum which runs discovery and space-related 3D shows? Check it out here.

Someone rightly said, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” See more of the world around you with Travel and Trots through our Instagram and Facebook pages.

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3 Responses

  1. June 11, 2017

    […] The Discovery shuttle, Mars rover, Apollo modules and more! […]

  2. June 12, 2017

    […] hanger is the final resting place of the Discovery space shuttle. Compared to something so large and momentous, the tiny segment which I found most fascinating […]

  3. June 12, 2017

    […] The best exhibit of it all – The Discovery space shuttle in the space unit of the Udvar-Hazy center. Read about it here. […]

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