The Universities Space Research Association (USRA)
announced today that it has selected Evergreen International Airlines
to operate and maintain NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared
Astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft.

Evergreen International Airlines will provide operational support,
flight crews, and training and dispatch, while Evergreen Air Center
will provide heavy maintenance and support.

NASA and DLR, the German Aerospace Center, are working together to
create SOFIA – a Boeing 747SP aircraft modified by L-3 Communications
Integrated Systems to accommodate a 2.5 meter reflecting telescope
provided by DLR. SOFIA will be the largest airborne observatory in
the world, and will make observations that are impossible for even
the largest and highest of ground-based telescopes. The observatory
is being developed and will be operated for NASA by a team of
industry experts led by prime contractor USRA. SOFIA will be based
at NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Federal Airfield near
Mountain View, California, and is expected to begin scientific
operations in 2005.

Evergreen International Aviation, headquartered in McMinnville,
Oregon, is a portfolio of five diverse aviation companies that
include an international cargo airline operating 10 Boeing 747s,
aircraft maintenance and service companies, a full service aircraft
ground handling company, and a helicopter service company. For the
past 12 years, NASA has relied on Evergreen Air Center for complete
maintenance, repair, modifications, and corrosion control programs on
two Boeing 747 Space Shuttle carriers.

“We’re delighted to have Evergreen on board,” said USRA President
David C. Black. “They are an experienced world-wide operator of
747s, they have considerable experience with NASA, and they are
clearly very enthusiastic about being involved with this world-class
astronomy research facility.”

The Universities Space Research Association is a private nonprofit
corporation founded in 1969. Comprised of 95 college and university
institutional members, USRA provides a mechanism through which
universities can cooperate effectively with one another, with the
government, and with other organizations to further space science and
technology, and to promote education in these areas. Its mission is
carried out through its institutes, centers, divisions, and many
diverse programs. Most of USRA’s activities are funded by grants and
contracts from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.