TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — There’s a big new attraction at the Pima Air and Space Museum. KGUN9 was there as a giant flying telescope rolled across Valencia from Davis-Monthan to the Museum.
The Pima Air and Space Museum has the extra space to bring in a lot of large exhibits and today they brought in something that really stopped traffic.
It’s not every day you see a huge 747 in the middle of Valencia Road. This aircraft was headed from Davis Monthan Air Force Base to retirement at the Pima Air and Space Museum.
The aircraft called SOFIA arrived at Davis-Monthan last month after a flying career that went from carrying passengers to studying the stars.
SOFIA stands for Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy.
NASA and the German Space Agency cut a giant hole in the side so SOFIA could fly at high altitude, open the door and expose a large telescope to get clear, infrared shots of the stars and planets.
After about 900 flights, NASA decided to retire SOFIA to shift resources to other missions. That put the big jet on the road to the Pima Air and Space Museum.
Greg and Joann Barrett thought they were headed for a typical museum visit when they got a bonus—the spectacle of the museum’s newest feature rolling in.
He says, “I'm an old World War Two airplane buff and I like airplanes. We're visiting. We’re snowbirds from Southern Indiana and I'm just out here to see the planes and see the museum. Craig: and here you got something unexpected. Yeah, and it didn't cost me anything.” 11:29:10
We got a chance to see SOFIA’s interior when the plane arrived at Davis-Monthan. Museum director Scott Marchand says once the plane’s processed and prepped there will be some days when visitors can get their own look inside.
“We plan to have, you know, scheduled public access days and we'll post out on social media and on our website. Hopefully we'll be able to do a couple of those before it gets too hot out here and quiets down during the summer, but during the sort of November and April timeframe, we plan to have regular you know, weekend access opportunities.”
The plane should be on open display about April or so, while the museum works on the next acquisition to bring into D-M and across the road.
RELATED COVERAGE:
——-
Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
