by Tom Bastek
Last updated: 11:00 PM ET, Wed February 4, 2015
Photos courtesy of Wikipedia.
At some point in almost every person's life there is a period of fascination with flight or space. Whether you dreamed of being a pilot or astronaut or meeting aliens, fighting with lightsabers or beaming up, there was something that got most of us a little bit giddy. For some of us that feeling has never left. Well whether you are traveling for you or for one of little ones, here are some really cool space destinations.
National Air and Space Museum - Washington, D.C.
This museum is the true no brainer. Hopefully everyone has been here or has this on their bucket list of museums to visit. It is the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world and after last year's attendance of over seven million visitors, is now the forth most visited museum in the world. Originally created by an act of congress in 1946, the museum was signed into law by President Harry S. Truman.
The main museum contains 61 aircraft, 51 large space artifacts, over 2,000 smaller items. There is also a public observatory onsite and is open to the public Wednesday through Sundays from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. and about once a month at nighttime.
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center - Chantilly, Virginia
There are some out there who is going to say that this is not technically its own museum because it is the annex for the National Air and Space Museum, but there is so much to see there that we had to give it its own due. The facility is 760,000 square feet and contains thousands of aviation and space artifacts. They also have a full Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a Concorde, and the space shuttle Discovery.they have the Airbus IMAX Theater and the Donald D. Engen Observation Tower, which gives you a 360-degree view of Washington Dulles International Airport. They are open everyday but Chrstmas from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum - New York City, New York
Opened originally in 1982, the Intrepid is a military and maritime museum that is located on the west side of Manhattan. The museum contains the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, the submarine USS Growler, a Concorde SST, a Lockheed A-12 supersonic reconnaissance plane, and the Space Shuttle Enterprise amongst other displays and exhibits. Tickets are $24 ($22 if bought online) and various specific guided tours are an additional $20.
U.S. Space and Rocket Center - Huntsville, AL
Located in Huntsville, Alabama and opened in 1970, the U.S. Space and Rocket Center introduces visitors to U.S. rocketry efforts from the German V-1 flying bomb all the way to the Space Shuttle. The center has full mock ups of the Saturn I, V-1, Jupiter IRBM, Juno II, Mercury-Redstone, Redstone, and Jupiter-C rockers as well. They also offer bus tours of the nearby Marshall Space Flight Center. The reason the Space and Rocket Center most known is because of hosting Space Camp.
Air and Space are the place to be if you are kid or a kid at heart. There are plenty of other places you can get to as well. So this year, when you are on your vacation, seek out the experiences that take you into the deep blue yonder and beyond!
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