MEDFORD, Ore. A projected map cuts through the semidarkness of North Medford High Schools planetarium and shimmers into focus on the domes curved ceiling.

Its a flight path, showing planned liftoffs from Palmdale, Calif., on Wednesday and Thursday and a soaring route over Oregon, Washington, parts of Canada, Iowa and Idaho before a return to base; two 10-hour jaunts with no planned landings.

Sunset to sunrise, well fly all night, says Robert Black, North Medfords astronomy teacher and planetarium director.

What hes describing is no typical airplane flight. Black, 50, along with friend and fellow amateur astronomer Dave Bloomsness, 61, of Southern Oregon Skywatchers, will fly aboard SOFIA NASAs Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy the worlds largest flying telescope. They are among 24 educators selected from across the country for SOFIAs Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program.

Working alongside astronomers and other scientists, they will help collect infrared images and data pertaining to the study of interstellar gases, star formation and destruction, and black holes all at 45,000 feet in the Earths stratosphere, about twice the altitude of a domestic airliner flight. When they return, they will implement classroom lessons and public-outreach events based on their experiences.

Its a huge opportunity. Im really excited, Bloomsness says.

Educators have been taking similar flights since the Ambassadors program began in 2010.

Black says his mentor, Gary Sprague, took a flight in the 1980s aboard the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, a modified C141A military-cargo plane that ran research and observation flights from 1975 until its retirement in the 1990s. SOFIA took over in 2010.

Thats one of the high points of his career, Black says of Spragues flight. He volunteered to fly; somebody got sick. It was an accident for him, serendipity.

The opportunity for Black and Bloomsness didnt come by lucky accident. It took a meticulous application process, combined with weeks of advanced astronomy study.

Read more:

Southern Oregon astronomers taking NASA telescope flight