During the 1970s and most of the 1980s the development of instrumentation, operation and research using the sailplane was funded within the science arm of NCAR with some limited support with hangarage, engineering and maintenance of the sailplane airframe provided by the NCAR Research Aviation Facility (RAF) of the Atmospheric Technology Division (ATD). From 1969 through about 1979 Explorer activities were in the Cloud Physics Program of the Laboratory of Atmospheric Science with partial support from the National Hail Research Experiment. As NHRE was concluded the Convection Storms Division (CSD) was formed in 1979 and Explorer activities were within CSD. CSD merged in 1987 with the Mesoscale Research System to form the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology (MMM) Division.

In 1987 a budget shortfall forced a reduction in engineering and technical staff in CSD and a decision was made to transfer the remaining engineering and technical staff to the NCAR RAF. As part of this exchange there was a commitment by ATD to continue the technical support for the sailplane program, but at a reduced level. Financial stress continued into the 1990s. Additionally there was a shift by the meteorological community and within NCAR away from scientific interest in fundamental cloud physics for which Explorer excelled. On the national scene there was waning interest in observational research and in cloud modification and a move towards model simulations of clouds and storms. At this time there was a lot of discussion in MMM and ATD about acquiring and instrumenting a motorized sailplane to broaden the potential interest base in the meteorological research community. While there was interest, the needed funding never materialized.

During the early 1990s, the sailplane effort was funded for the CaPE project in east central Florida in 1991. In 1994 it was modified to be able to fly the large boom needed for the filming of the IMAX movie. In 1995 it was instrumented and flown in the Boulder area that summer to further investigate electrification and precipitation development in the clouds of NE Colorado.

After the field project in NE Colorado in 1995 Explorer remained unused in the NCAR RAF hangar at Jefferson County Airport for several years. After an initial suggestion by Joachim Kuettner to Dan Breed there was discussion about donating the sailplane N9929J to the Soaring Society of Boulder (SSB) so that the sailplane could continue to be flown and utilized. There was discussion within MMM, RAF, NCAR/UCAR management and NSF with the leaders of SSB about transferring Explorer to SSB. In 2002 Explorer was donated by NSF/NCAR to the Soaring Society of Boulder.

From 2002 until Nov.29, 2012 members of the Soaring Society of Boulder did fly Explorer in the Boulder area for recreational flights and for student flight training. The last flight of sailplane N9929J was on Nov. 29, 2014, when it was being flown over the foothills west of Boulder by a member of SSB and a student pilot. Upon trying to return to Boulder Airport, lift was lost and N9929J crash landed near Gold Hill, Colorado resulting in severe damage. Fortunately, neither of the occupants were seriously injured. After this incident the damaged sailplane airframe was claimed by the insurance company. As of this writing in late 2023 the damaged airframe remains in a private hangar at Boulder Airport.