NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared
Astronomy (SOFIA) touched down at NASA Ames Research Center to an emotional
welcome. Dr. Eric Becklin, SOFIA's Observatory Director and Chief Scientist,
said, "It brought tears to my eyes to see this beautiful observatory
arrive." Scientists, engineers, technologists and educators who have
worked long and hard on this observatory surrounded Becklin. They were
delighted to witness SOFIA make two fly-bys over Moffett Federal Airfield, and
touch down to cheers.
SOFIA has been
under development since 1996; it's a long-awaited infrared observatory that
will take astronomers and educators on research flights to observe the infrared
universe. SOFIA carries a 2.5 meter-diameter telescope to the stratosphere to
rise above the water vapor and carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere that
absorbs infrared energy. SOFIA will open new eyes on the universe.
On Monday,
January 14, SOFIA was flown from NASA's Dryden Research Center to NASA's Ames Research Center for a 1-day visit. This allowed NASA employees, contractors, and their
family and friends the opportunity to walk through the new airborne
observatory. SOFIA's predecessor, the Kuiper
Airborne Observatory (KAO), was also on display. A modified C-141 cargo
aircraft, the KAO carried a 0.9 meter-diameter telescope to the stratosphere to
conduct infrared research during a mission spanning more than two decades,
including numerous deployments around the world. Carrying a much more powerful
telescope and new instrumentation, SOFIA will resume these research missions
once the engineering testing and other final finishing details are completed.
Together,
SOFIA and the KAO made a dramatic pair as dusk fell upon the apron where they
were parked.
More than
3500 people had the opportunity to see the observatories, and I saw smiles
everywhere. I've been involved with airborne astronomy since 1991. In
partnership with many people at NASA's Ames Research Center, I managed the
FOSTER — Flight Opportunities for Science Teacher Enrichment — program for the
KAO. In just over 3 years, we trained and flew teams of pre-college teachers on
50 research missions onboard the KAO. Their students thought that they had
become astronauts, and that became a teachable moment for these educators.
Recently, one of these educators told me that her students ask her each year if
she's the NASA teacher. They're still proud and excited about learning science
from her. It's a decade later, and still these educators' experiences of
working with KAO scientists, NASA and the SETI Institute continue to have
impact in their classrooms. SOFIA will be able to bring educators from all parts
of the US and Germany to participate in research missions. It's a wonderful
prospect.
I was so
excited to be able to walk up the steps and enter the observatory with my
friend, Carl Gillespie, who had first envisioned building an infrared telescope
in a Boeing 747SP in the 1970s. Carl was a flight director on the KAO, and lost
track of how many flights he directed over his 21-year career on the KAO. He's
now retired, but was delighted to see his dream come to fruition. I was too. I'm
looking forward to seeing scientists, undergraduate and graduate students, and
educators work together onboard the observatory when SOFIA begins to do science
routinely in a few years. There's great science and inspiring education and
outreach in store for people across the world.
SOFIA is a joint program of NASA and the
German Aerospace Center (DLR). Overall SOFIA program management is based at
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in southern California, while the
scientific mission and operations are planned and run from NASA's Ames Research
Center in northern California. Universities Space Research Association
(USRA) and the Deutsches SOFIA Institut at Universitaet Stuttgart manage
science operations for NASA and the DLR, respectively. SOFIA's home hangar will
be at the Palmdale (California) Airport near Dryden. The SETI Institute and the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific are partners in administering SOFIA's education and public outreach programs.
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