The primary mirror of SOFIA’s telescope being coated in a vacuum chamber at NASA’s Ames Research Center, in Silicon Valley…
Nestled in its cradle on a transport dolly, SOFIA's primary mirror assembly awaits transfer to a "clean room" at the…
Technicians with ropes guide SOFIA's primary mirror assembly suspended from a crane toward its transport dolly after the mirror's removal…
Technicians carefully attached a spreader T-bar to the framework of SOFIA's primary mirror assembly prior to lifting it from the…
The cavernous expanse of the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif., now houses NASA's DC-8 science laboratory and SOFIA…
NASA'S SOFIA infrared observatory 747SP (front) and DC-8 flying laboratory (rear) are now housed at the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility…
NASA's DC-8 flying science laboratory is ready for departure on the ARCTAS atmospheric sampling mission in April 2008 at the…
NASA's SOFIA flying observatory undergoes nighttime characterization testing of its infrared telescope at the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale,…
Light from the hangar illuminates the aircraft ramp at NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif., as the telescope…
A delegation from the City of Palmdale, Calif., led by Mayor James Ledford (fourth from left) was briefed by Dryden…
