https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8xpw5b/the-government-shutdown-has-grounded-nasas-only-flying-telescope

As the longest-ever US government shut down stretches on, more scientific research is being disrupted, including observations from NASA’s only flying telescope.

SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, is an observatory built onto a Boeing 747. Its mobility, and the fact that it can fly above much of the water vapor in the atmosphere, makes it an important asset for researchers studying distant stars and galaxies.