NASA’s Odd Flying Observatory, SOFIA, Will Go on Display at Arizona Museum

NASA’s flying observatory SOFIA is scheduled to make one final flight to its ultimate resting place. The jumbo jet can be spending its retirement years on the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, the place it will likely be on show for its adoring followers.

SOFIA, or the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, spent greater than 15 years observing planets, comets, and asteroids throughout its lengthy aircraft rides. The plane is a modified Boeing 747SP jet, fitted with a reflecting telescope. SOFIA cruised via Earth’s stratosphere, whereas its telescope poked out of a giant door that remained open throughout flight. The observatory’s infrared devices gathered essential knowledge on the cosmos from between 38,000 and 45,000 ft above the floor, which is clearly far larger than ground-based telescopes.

The hybrid jet took off in April 2007 and accomplished its final science mission on September 29. Since then, SOFIA has been chilling at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California. But the plane will take off one final time, flying to Arizona on Tuesday, December 13, NASA announced on Thursday.

There, SOFIA can be housed at Pima, one of many largest aerospace museums on this planet. The museum will put together the plane at its restoration facility earlier than SOFIA makes its public debut.

“The SOFIA mission has a powerful potential to inspire, from its discoveries about the unknown in our universe, to the engineering achievements that broke new ground, to the international cooperation that made it all possible,” Paul Hertz, senior advisor for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA, mentioned within the NASA assertion. “We are excited SOFIA will continue to engage a diverse new generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers.”

SOFIA was one of many casualties of a NASA finances reduce in 2021, with the area company stating that its “science productivity does not justify its operating costs.” During its time within the air, SOFIA turned its consideration to Pluto, Saturn’s moon Titan, and the stays of a supernova.

It’s a disgrace that SOFIA’s mission needed to come to an finish, however the plane is definitely getting the retirement plan it deserves.

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