National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center to Expand

More historic aircraft to go on display in a new 44,000-square-foot addition in Virginia.

Meg Godlewski

Thursday, September 11, 2025 at 01:45 PM ET

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Edited By:

Travis Tingle

The Boeing Aviation Hangar at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. [Credit: National Aviation and Space Museum]

Key Takeaways:

The Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia is undergoing its first expansion since 2003, adding 44,000 square feet to its Boeing Aviation Hangar by 2028.
This 20 percent increase in space will allow the museum to display a significant number of aviation artifacts previously in storage or not fully assembled.
New exhibits will include prominent aircraft like the Martin B-26B-2-MA Marauder *Flak-Bait*, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress *Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby*, and a restored Sikorsky JRS-1 that survived the Pearl Harbor attack.

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The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum boasts some of the finest aviation artifacts in the world, and soon more of them will be on display to the public.

The institution is planning the expansion of its Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. This is the first time the facility, which will remain open during construction, has been added to since it opened in 2003. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2028.