National Air and Space Exploration

This past weekend we went to the National Air and Space Museum by Dulles Airport.  It was so cool!!! We had been wanting to visit for a while as this was where they filmed a portion of Transformers, The Fallen.  We are Transformers fans and liked that movie a lot.  Had just never gotten around to visiting this museum.

There are lots of planes and historical aircraft that are in this museum.  This is Lydia and Emily "holding up" one of the jets.  Ryan has a picture like this too, but it is on his phone and I never managed to get a copy.

This was the first plane to land at Hiroshima.

This is the "hanger"/door that the Prime Transformer went out in the movie.

This is the Space Shuttle Discovery.  After its last mission, it was flown to Dulles airport where it was then placed in the museum.  It is the real deal!!

 Same thing, just a little closer.

 This is the back of Discovery and the kids below it.  So huge!  However, the door that the Discovery had to come in was even bigger.  Check that out.  Yep, that is Lydia and Emily standing in front of it.  You can hardly see them!

 Not sure how well you can read this, but this is some information about Discovery.

 It is not a model!  It is REAL!  Can you tell this was my favorite exhibit that day?  This is a picture taken from up under the back wing  You can actually see the marks where the fire, from re-entering the atmosphere, "kissed" the underside of the wing.  So amazing!  Makes you want to continue with that childhood dream of wanting to be an astronaut when you grow up.  

Ryan found his own plane!

 This is a tower that you can go up the 7 flights to observe.  It is an observation deck as well as a set up of an air traffic control center.  When you are at the top, you can overlook Dulles Airport.

 And the plane that made us think of Grammy.  The Waterman.  My mom taught at Waterman Elementary School for 35 years.  Or 38 years.  I am actually not completely sure anymore.  :)  Anyway, she has been retired for some time, but thought of her when we saw this one.  The older planes all look so funny.

This was a great trip and a great day.  As we were leaving, there were a ton of huge planes flying overhead as they were leaving Dulles.  If you have never been, highly recommend the trip to this free museum.