NASA's SOFIA lands in Tahiti

SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infra-red Astronomy was deployed to Papeete/Fa'a'ā International Airport on Tahiti, French Polynesia on July 19. The move is a change of scenery from the heavily modified Boeing 747SP’s usual southern hemisphere haunt – Christchurch, New Zealand – which is off-limits due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. All photos NASA/J.SpoonerThe 2021 southern deployment is the 1977-built jet’s first trip to French Polynesia while operated by the joint NASA/Deutsches zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR, German Aerospace Center),