NASA's Boeing 747SP-based Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) flying telescope will be retired this year. SOFIA is the latest and largest generation of NASA's infrared ...

NASA’s Boeing 747SP flying telescope platform is called SOFIA, which stands for Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. [Courtesy: NASA] NASA’s one-of-a-kind, modified Boeing 747SP ...

As announced earlier in 2022, with the end of this fiscal year, NASA retired, on September 30, 2022, its Boeing 747SP Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). The aircraft ...

SOFIA, for which NASA partnered with the German space agency (DLR), is a flying observatory. More specifically, it's a Boeing 747SP aircraft with a massive hole in its size, through which a 106 ...

scientists have been scouting Pluto’s atmosphere using a 98-inch telescope mounted inside a highly modified Boeing 747SP. A combined effort between NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR ...

However, the 747SP kept all the same electronic systems ... maker Pratt & Whitney operated two of them as a testing platform, ...

Discover the legacy of NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO), a modified C-141A Starlifter that advanced infrared ...

That’s exactly what the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA for short, is: a Boeing 747SP aircraft ... that will be available in “NASA’s public archives for ...

Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.

COLORADO SPRINGS—Almost three months after its final science mission ended, NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) 747SP airborne telescope has been retired to the ...