On December 13, NASA’s flying observatory, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), flew over the Kuiper Space Sciences building and the UArizona mall, concluding its final flight to Davis Monthan Air Force Base before becoming an exhibit at the Pima Air and Space Museum.

SOFIA replaced the venerable Kuiper Airborne Observatory. Many LPL researchers collected infrared observations of Solar System objects on these flying observatories over the years.