Update With Additional Speaker: Media Opportunity With NASA'S SOFIA During Washington Stopover

Trent J. Perrotto

Headquarters, Washington     

WASHINGTON -- NASA is inviting journalists to tour and learn more about the world's largest airborne astronomical observatory on Thursday, Sept. 22, from 12 to 2 p.m. EDT at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a highly modified Boeing 747SP aircraft fitted with a 100 inch (2.5 meter) diameter telescope, is making a rare appearance on the East Coast after a deployment to Germany. From 12 to 12:30 p.m., prior to touring the aircraft, media will hear from:

-- Lori Garver, NASA deputy administrator

-- Leland Melvin, former astronaut and NASA associate administrator for Education

-- Paul Hertz, NASA SOFIA program scientist

-- Mary Blessing, an educator from Herndon High School in Herndon, Va., who flew aboard SOFIA as a participant in the Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program

Hundreds of children from military families also will be on-site to tour the aircraft, visit NASA exhibits, and speak with scientists. SOFIA's Washington-area stopover is part of the White House's "Joining Forces" initiative to give service members and their families opportunities they have earned. NASA works to inspire interest in science, technology, engineering and math education and careers among youth.

To attend, journalists must contact Trent Perrotto at trent.j.perrotto@nasa.gov or 202-358-0321 by 4 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, Sept. 21, for logistics. To allow time for check-in and transportation to the aircraft hangar, news media representatives will need to arrive at the base at 11 a.m.

SOFIA analyzes infrared light to study the formation of stars and planets; chemistry of interstellar gases; composition of comets, asteroids and planets; and supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies. Infrared observations are optimal for studying low-temperature objects in space such as the raw materials for star and planet formation and for seeing through interstellar dust clouds that block light at visible wavelengths.

SOFIA is a joint program between NASA and DLR in Bonn, Germany. The SOFIA program is managed at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif. The aircraft is based at the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif. NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., manages the SOFIA science and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association in Columbia, Md., and Deutsches SOFIA Institut in Stuttgart, Germany.

For more information about SOFIA, visit http://www.nasa.gov/sofia.

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