Credit: NASA/Carla Thomas
Some of the scientific data that will be collected May 5 and 7 during flights of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy flights will be transformed into tactile graphics for youth who are blind or visually impaired. SOFIA is pictured here as it taxis to the Christchurch International Airport terminal in New Zealand in July 2013, on its first Southern Hemisphere deployment to study celestial objects difficult to see in the northern sky.