N747NA HistoryFirst Flight: April 25, 1977

Delivered: May 6, 1977, Pan Am (N536PA)

Christened: Clipper Lindbergh by Anne Morrow Lindbergh on May 20, 1977, the 50th anniversary of Charles A. Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic.

•RechristenedClipper Lindbergh by Erik Lindbergh on May 21, 2007.

Sold to United Air Lines: Februay 13, 1986

Registrationchanged:November1,1986(N145UA)

ApproximateTotalFlightHours:74,500

Approximate Number of Cycles: 10,600

Acquired by NASA: October 27, 1997

Registrationchanged:December17,2004(N747NA)

First post-modification flight: April 26, 2007 (Waco, Texas)

Aircraft FactsModel:Boeing747SP(SpecialPerformance)

Numberbuilt:45;stillinservice:14

Registration:N747NA

Manufacturer’sserialnumber:21441

Line number: 306

Based: NASA Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility (Site 9), Palmdale, Calif.

Staffing:FlightCrew:3;MissionCrew:2–6:Observers/Educators:5–15

FuselageLength:177feet(53.9meters)Standard747-400:232feetor70.5meters)

Wingspan: 196 feet (59.7 meters)

Powerplants:4xPratt&WhitneyJT9D-7Aturbofanengines(50,000lbfthrusteach)

ServiceCeiling:45,000feet(13.7km)—above99.8percentoftheEarth’satmospheric water vapor

Airspeedat41,000feet:450knots(Mach0.8or520mph)

Range:6,625nauticalmiles

MissionDuration:7to9hours(standard);12.2hours(maximum)

SOFIAemptyweight(zerofuel):378,000pounds(189shorttonsor171,458kg)

SOFIAMaximumTakeOffWeight:696,000pounds(348shorttonsor315,700kg)

MaximumFuelLoad:300,000pounds(44,776U.S.gallons)

Fuel Usage: 150,000 to 250,000 pounds (standard duration mission) (fun fact: ~0.5 miles per gallon)

CavityDoorweight:3,150pounds(1,430kg)

Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy

NASA/TomTschida NASA/TomTschida

NASA/JimRoss

Telescope FactsTelescope Consortium: MAN Technologie AG and Kayser-Threde GmbH

NominalOperationalWavelengthRange:0.3to1600microns

Primary Mirror Diameter: 2.7 meters

System Clear Aperture Diameter: 2.5 meters

Nominal System f-ratio: 19.6

Primary Mirror f-ratio: 1.28

FullElevationRange:+15to+70degressabovethehorizon

UnvignettedElevationRange:+20to+60degrees

Unvignetted Field-of-View Diameter: 8 arcmin

MaximumChopThrowonSky:+/-4arcmin(unvignetted)

Diffraction-LimitedWavelengths:>/=15microns

Telescopeinstallationweight:17tons(34,000pounds)

Optical Information

Optical Configuration: Bent Cassegrain with chopping secondary mirror and flat folding tertiary, Nasmyth focus

Chopper Frequencies: 1 to 20 Hz for 2-point square wave chop

PointingStability =1.0"rmsatfirstlight ≤0.5"rmsinfulloperations

PointingAccuracy =0.5"withon-axisfocalplanetracking =3"withon-axisfine-fieldtracking

Total Emissivity of Telescope (Goal):

15 percent at 10 microns with dichroic tertiary 10 percent at 10 microns with aluminized tertiary

RecoveryAirTemperatureinCavity(andopticstemperature)=240K

SOFIA Science ThemesInterstellar medium physics and star formation in our galaxy.

Planet formation in nearby star systems.

Origin and evolution of biogenic atoms, molecules, and solids.

Composition and structure of comets, planetary atmospheres and rings, star formation, dynamics, and interstellar medium chemistry of other galaxies.

The dynamic activity in the center of the Milky Way.

Ultra-luminousIRGalaxies(ULIRGS)asakeycomponentoftheearlyuniverse.

SOFIA ManagementAircraftOperations: NASADrydenFlightResearchCenter,Edwards,Calif.

ScienceOperations: NASAAmesResearchCenterand UniversitiesSpaceResearchAssociation

DeutschesZentrumfurLuft-undRaumfahrt(DLR)

Deutsches SOFIA Institut (DSI), Universität Stuttgart, Germany

L-3Communications/USRA

NASA/RonStrong