I've always loved anything dealing with outer space going all the way back to my childhood. I was thrilled to watch the Gemini missions 🚀 in the 1960s when teachers brought TVs into the classroom so we could see lift-offs and splashdowns as they happened!
I always wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up – 👨🚀. My dad used to call me an astro-NUT because I was such a space geek. I am still fascinated by the U.S. space program and recently watched the NASA “Perseverance” rover land on Mars via live TV. It was exciting to see the mission unfold and I actually got emotional seeing the amazing technicians and scientists at mission control high-fiving each other and whooping it up when they got word that the spacecraft had landed safely.Although I'm too old to be an astronaut (well, John Glenn would have argued that you're never too old), to this day I have dreamed of working for NASA in some capacity… like as a staff photographer. A few years ago, I was asked to interview for a photographer position at Cleveland's NASA Glenn Research Center and was honored to make it to the final five applicants out of more than 100. Unfortunately, I wasn't chosen. 🥺 I still hold out hope that another opportunity may come my way.
So that brings me to my visit to the Udvar-Hazy Center – part of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia. In 2016, enroute to a family vacation in Delaware, my wife (Doreen) and I planned a side trip to visit this amazing museum. It was far more than I expected with full-size airplanes, jets, the Space Shuttle Discovery, a Concorde SST, Enola Gay bomber and TONs more.
I created this video from the photos I took at the museum. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
I also attended the NASA Glenn Research Center 75th Anniversary Open House in 2016. See my story and video of that experience here.
Have you ever been to the Udvar-Hazy Center or any other NASA facility? What did you like most about it? Please share your experience with a comment, here!
