Boeing 747 project finally wraps up at L-3 after 10 years.

Publication: Waco Tribune-Herald (Waco, Texas) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)

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COPYRIGHT 2006 Waco Tribune-Herald

Byline: Mike Copeland

Feb. 9--After 10 years of work at Waco's L-3 Communications plant, the SOFIA project that involves placing a telescope aboard a Boeing 747 airplane for trips above the stratosphere is about to produce results.

Test flights out of Waco will begin this fall, and the plane likely will begin hauling astronomers, students and journalists on scientific journeys beginning in 2008. The SOFIA plane will be based at the NASA Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, but one might say its heart will always be in Waco.

The $700 million project was supposed to generate at least $100 million in revenue for the Waco plant in the beginning, when the price tag was about $480 million.

"I don't believe it has been as profitable as some (L-3) endeavors, but...

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