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NASA's SOFIA airborne observatory is shadowed by an F/A-18 safety chase plane during its checkout flight near Waco. SOFIA is being developed as a world-class observatory complementing the Hubble Space Telescope. The observatory features a German-built 100 inch infrared telescope weighing 20 metric tons mounted in a highly-modified Boeing 747SP aircraft. It is due to become fully operational in the 2009-2010 period with a projected lifespan of up to 20 years.

Credit: NASA/Dryden Archives.