A NASA-Ames legend turns 30 A NASA-Ames legend turns 30 (June 10, 2005)

By Allison Gerard

NASA-Ames scientists proudly remembered one of their most important successes recently with the 30th anniversary of the dedication of the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, or KAO.

Based from the start at NASA-Ames Research Center, the KAO is the world's first major airborne astronomical research laboratory and played a key role in numerous scientific achievements. Among its many celestial findings, the KAO discovered the rings of Uranus, water in Jupiter's atmosphere and early evidence of a 4-million-year-old black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

"People should remember how scientifically productive the KAO was, and what could be accomplished with a lean team of dedicated, hard-working and motivated people working together," said Dr. Edwin Erickson, a career scientist on the KAO who still works at NASA-Ames.

The KAO team consisted of about 50 people who would spend long stretches in the air, tinkering with the plane's sensitive stargazing equipment. Despite its humble beginnings as a military cargo plane, the KAO carried a 36-inch reflecting telescope capable of conducting infrared astronomy from 45,000 feet.

The KAO was dedicated on May 21, 1975, and completed 1,400 flights until being decommissioned ten years ago.

Much of the science produced by the KAO concerned the birth of stars and the conditions in space that lead to star formation. Before these investigations, little was known about star formation.

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