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The National Air and Space Museum celebrates the second anniversary of its Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on Sunday, Dec. 11 with a special all-day $5 parking fee at the Chantilly, Va., facility.

The museum is discounting the regular fee of $12 for one day--Dec. 11--to share with visitors the convenience of a complete holiday-season outing in one location. In addition to breathtaking displays of the peerless Smithsonian flight collection, the center offers museum store shopping, IMAX film entertainment, simulator rides, casual dining and even a coffee shop.

As part of the Dec. 11 celebration, a drawing will be held for five of the new aviation-themed, limited-edition M&M candy dispensers created exclusively for the museum. The whimsical dispensers are available for sale at the museum's stores. All proceeds will go to fund construction of the museum's new state-of-the-art restoration hangar at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

Visitors who spend $50 or more at the Udvar-Hazy store on Dec. 11 will receive 10 percent off their purchases.

Also on Dec. 11, author and museum archivist Allan Janus will be signing copies of "Animals Aloft: Photographs from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum." Generously illustrated, this new book surveys the unusual history of pets in the cockpit and should delight any animal lover or aviation and space buff.

All proceeds from Udvar-Hazy Center parking help pay for museum operations. Fees are charged per vehicle, not per person. Signs along the roads approaching the center and a low-watt AM radio station (at 1660 on the dial) operated by the museum help direct arriving visitors into the large-capacity parking lot without delay.

The Udvar-Hazy Center opened to the public in December 2003 and quickly became the most visited museum site in Virginia. Its aviation hangar, 10-stories high and the length of three football fields, is now home to 123 aircraft--41 more than on opening day. Among the aircraft displayed is a Concorde, an SR-71 Blackbird, the "Dash 80" original prototype of the 707, the   B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay and the Boeing S-307 Stratoliner.

Space enthusiasts have been exploring the center's James S. McDonnell Space Hangar since its launch in November 2004. The space hangar is home to 141 large space artifacts, including its centerpiece, space shuttle Enterprise, and scores of missiles, satellites and space telescopes.

New artifacts are added weekly to the center, which eventually will house some 200 aircraft and 200 large space vehicles. The Udvar-Hazy Center also displays thousands of smaller historic items including spacesuits, aerial cameras, armament, models and uniforms.

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located in Chantilly, Va., off of Route 28. It is open daily from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission to the Udvar-Hazy Center is free. The museum operates a shuttle bus between the center and its flagship building on the National Mall in Washington from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a round-trip ticket costing $12. Group discounts are available.   

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Masterfoods USA has introduced a limited edition M&M'S Chocolate Candies dispenser, featuring a whimsical aviation theme, of which 100 percent of the proceeds will benefit the National Air and Space Museum. Since the groundbreaking, the goals of the new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center have been to Inspire, Commemorate, and Educate. Comments from visitors, shown taking in the vast area of the Boeing Aviation Hangar, testify that those goals have been met.