DISCLAIMER: Given the current pandemic, admission to the museum is still free but timed-entry passes are required. Face coverings must be worn over both the nose and mouth by everyone ages 6+ and are recommended for those between 2 and 5. At the moment, IMAX films, simulator rides, guided tours, educational programming and the Donald D. Engen Tower are closed and/or suspended.
The impressive annex to the National Air and Space Museum is home to hordes of space and aviation artifacts, including a shrine to the space shuttle Discovery, which has a hangar just about all to itself—alongside a Concorde supersonic passenger jet and the restored Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan. It’s perhaps more for the adult aviation enthusiast than its counterpart on the Naitonal Mall—but kids will still get a kick out of the sheer spectacle of the exhibits on display here.