National Air and Space Museum

Dedicated to all space and aviation fans, this museum is one of the most visited in the world, with over 6 million visitors each year. Here, you’ll find the largest collection of aircraft and spacecraft in the world, as well as exhibitions tracing back the history of aviation and space exploration. It showcases hundreds of planes, helicopters, rockets, missiles, and spacecraft that captivate both children and adults. You’ll get to see the Albert Einstein Planetarium, the Apollo 11 command module which sent the first humans to the Moon, and even rare samples of lunar rock. The museum was founded in 1946 under the name of National Air Museum. When the space race began in the 1950s and 60s, it was renamed the National Air and Space Museum . The renewed museum was inaugurated in July 1976—exactly two hundred years after the United States Declaration of Independence was signed. It quickly became one of the most visited museums in the country, and they had to open an annex in Virginia for its growing collection. Make sure to visit, it’s really worth it! Plus, admission is free. However, you’ll need a few hours if you want to see everything.