Here’s SOFIA, the jetliner two Richardson ISD will fly in: nasa.gov
Two Richardson High School teachers, Dr. George Hademenos and Diane Watson, have been selected by NASA to represent Texas in this year’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) ambassadors program.
Hademenos and Watson are one of twelve two-person educator teams selected from the U.S. to observe first-hand how infrared astronomy is conducted in a highly modified Boeing 747 jetliner, flying at altitudes between 39,000 and 45,000 feet above the water vapor in the earth’s atmosphere. Each of the two-person teams will be paired with a professional astronomer to observe first-hand how airborne infrared astronomy is conducted.
“To date, the Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors’ program has flown 15 teams totaling 31 educators from 17 states, and we look forward to working with this new cadre of educators as they take NASA science into their communities,” says Dana Backman, astronomer and manager of SOFIA’s education and public outreach programs at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
Upon completion of the program, Hademenos and Watson will equip fellow Richardson ISD teachers, including educators at Lake Highlands High School, how to share what they learned in the SOFIA program with students.
