NASA's modified Boeing 747SP SOFIA airborne observatory taxis along the runway at Waco, Texas after completing its first checkout flight on April 26, 2007

NASA's modified Boeing 747SP SOFIA airborne observatory taxis along the runway at Waco, Texas after completing its first checkout flight on April 26, 2007.

NASA's modified Boeing 747SP SOFIA airborne observatory taxis along the runway at Waco, Texas after completing its first checkout flight on April 26, 2007.

Photographer NASA/Tony Landis
Location AFRC
SOFIAfirst flightStratospheric Observatory for Infrared AstronomyGerman-built 100-inch 2 5 meter diameter infrared telescope20 tonshighly-modified Boeing 747SP aircraftDLR Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt German AerospaceL-3 Communications Integrated SystemsUniversities Space Research AssociationUSRADeutsches SOFIA InstitutDSI