Dryden Home > Collections > Photo Home > SOFIA > Photo # ED07-0105-3 |
Erik Lindbergh christens NASA's 747 Clipper Lindbergh with a special commemorative concoction representing local, NASA, and industry partners. |
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Photo Number: | ED07-0105-3 |
Photo Date: | 05/21/2007 |
Formats: |
640x621 JPEG Image (203 KBytes) 1280x1242 JPEG Image (622 KBytes) 3000x2910 JPEG Image (2696 KBytes) |
Photo Description: |
Erik Lindbergh christens NASA's 747 Clipper Lindbergh, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, with a special commemorative concoction representing local, NASA, and industry partners. The liquid consisted of a small amount of California wine representing NASA Dryden where the aircraft will be stationed, a small amount of Dr. Pepper (a Waco, TX invention), a quantity of French bottled water (to symbolize Charles Lindbergh's flight to Paris on this date), and a dash of German beer to represent the SOFIA German industry partners. |
Project Description: |
NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is being developed as a world-class observatory complementing the Hubble Space Telescope. The observatory, which features a German-built 98.4-inch (2.5 meter) diameter infrared telescope weighing 20 metric tons mounted in a highly-modified Boeing 747SP aircraft, has begun its flight test phase in a joint program by NASA and DLR Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center). Major aircraft modifications and installation of the telescope was performed by L-3 Communications Integrated Systems facility at Waco, Texas. Systems integration and flight test operations are being conducted at NASA's Dryden Flight Resarch Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. SOFIA's science and mission operations are managed jointly by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and the Deutsches SOFIA Institut (DSI), and are based at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field near San Jose, Calif. Once operational in the 2009-2010 period, SOFIA will be the world's primary infrared observatory during a mission lasting up to 20 years, as well as an outstanding laboratory for developing and testing instrumentation and detector technology. |
NASA Photo by: | Tom Tschida |
Keywords: | SOFIA, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, Clipper Lindbergh, German-built 100-inch (2.5 meter) diameter infrared telescope, 20 tons, highly-modified Boeing 747SP aircraft, DLR Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center), L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, Universities Space Research Association, USRA, Deutsches SOFIA Institut, DSI |
Dryden Home > Collections > Photo Home > SOFIA > Photo # ED07-0105-3 |
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Last Modified: May 21, 2007 |