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 National Air and Space Museum is expanding its Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, with construction set to be completed by 2028.
This expansion will add 44,000 square feet to the Boeing Aviation Hangar, increasing its size by 20 percent to display more aviation artifacts, many of which have been in storage.
New exhibits will feature historically significant aircraft, including 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 from 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.