1-18-14 nasa-astronomy

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Milwaukee astronomer and a suburban high school science teacher will be taking the trip of a lifetime when they participate in collecting data from the universe on board NASA's flying observatory.  The director of the Manfred Olson Planetarium at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Jean Creighton, and Nicolet High School science teacher Kathy Gustavson will join educators from 10 other states and fly 45,000 feet into the sky. They'll be passengers on NASA's SOFIA, which stands for Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy.  Creighton says the specially-designed Boeing 747 is the largest flying astronomical observatory in the world.   Creighton and Gustavson will travel to California this spring for training and complete medical and security clearances. Then they'll board SOFIA for two 10-hour flights.