The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, 747SP sat on the tarmac during nighttime telescope operations at NASA’s Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in October 2010.
SOFIA, which is a cooperative program between NASA and the German Aerospace Center DLR, took off for the heavens on a characterization flight Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2010, focusing on the Orion nebula and the Sharpless 140 star cluster. The first science flight took place overnight from Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2010.Image Credit: NASA/Tom Tschida
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