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The former Pan Am Clipper Lindbergh 747SP is being converted into a giant flying telescope platform in Palmdale, CA, and Waco, TX. It is carrying a 2.5 meter diameter, 20-ton Nasmyth reflector telescope that will be capable of imaging primarily in the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, as well as in the visible portion, for secondary tasks. The aircraft will fly 8 ~ 10 hour missions an average of three times a week through about the year 2030 (including down-time for maintenance/upgrades, relocation, etc.). The telescope has been installed and will perform observations through a 16 foot high, by 10 foot wide, opening in the upper left fuselage, just forward of the horizontal and vertical stabilizers. The aircraft has completed closed-door test flights with very favorable results, and will be undergoing eight months of computer, communications, and telescope instrument equipment installation and minor airframe modifications in Palmdale, CA, at the former Rockwell International / North American Aircraft B-1B Production Plant 40, adjacent to U.S. Air Force Plant 42, and its two 12,000-foot runways. In the Fall of 2008, SOFIA will begin a series of about 12 open-door flight tests to ensure that the aircraft can fly safely with the doors open various amounts, over a range of airspeeds and altitudes from about 38,000 to 45,000 feet MSL. By the Spring of 2009, SOFIA will begin limited "early science" missions while additional flight and systems tests are completed, and will begin full scientific missions in 2010. Instrument development will continue through at least 2014, when at least 20 different instrument packages will be available, with at least six installed aboard the aircraft on any given flight (instruments will be able to be installed and removed in a few hours between flights, as needed). The telescope is mounted in an oil-filled spherical bearing that allows it to roll from 15 to 75 degrees above the horizon, and three degrees fore-and-aft from the aircraft centerline, so that it is effectively decoupled from aircraft movements in calm to mildly-turbulent air. It will be able to remain bore-sighted on an astronomical target with an angle the size of a dime at a distance of over ten miles.