On September 29, 2022, the era of a very special Boeing 747SP ended, as NASA and DLR retired their stratospheric observatory for infrared astronomy. The last flight was carried out and the further future of the machine is unclear. The N747NA may be threatened with scrapping.

"From deepening our understanding of water on the moon to unveiling the unseen forces of cosmic magnetic fields, none of this would have been possible without the hundreds of people who brought their expertise to the SOFIA mission," said Naseem Rangwala, project scientist of the Mission at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley.

From the beginning of its development in 1996, SOFIA required technical ingenuity. A Boeing 747SP jetliner had to be modified to carry the 38.000-pound, 2,5-meter-long 100-inch telescope used by NASA's partner on the SOFIA mission, the German Aerospace Center (DLR). , has been deployed.

Engineers created a garage door-like mechanism that could be rolled up so the telescope could view the sky. In this configuration, it was "one of the largest open ports ever flown on an airplane," according to Paul Fusco, a now-retired NASA engineer who helped develop the door system, "and the largest for flight." at all heights and at all speeds with the door open. This was a really exciting innovation in aviation."

Now the observatory is being retired. The scientific flights have ended and the team is looking for a suitable permanent home for this special aircraft. SOFIA data from a total of 732 observation nights over the course of the mission will also be publicly available for scientists to study and explore further in the future.

"Infrared astronomy will continue at NASA, especially with the James Webb Space Telescope," said Paul Hertz, senior advisor for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, former director of the Astrophysics Division and former SOFIA program scientist. "But SOFIA's many and varied contributions to science have already left their mark."