Did a free viewing of this airborne IR telescope on a special Boeing 747 aircraft.
The 747 can fly at very high altitudes ( 41k ft ) above all of the water vapor in
the Earth's atmosphere, best for this IR telescope.

This was a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR)
It saw first light on May 26, 2010.

A giant door slides open near the back of the aircraft exposing the 2.5 m reflector
telescope.

A picture of the giant Infrared SOFIA telescope