The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s premier observatory of the next decade, successfully launched to space Saturday morning. The telescope will study exoplanets in new ways and look deeper into the universe than we’ve ever been able to before.
Summary
- The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s premier space observatory of the next decade, successfully launched on Christmas morning.
- The Webb telescope has endured years of delays, including a combination of factors brought on by the pandemic and technical challenges.
- The telescope includes instruments from the Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency.
- When the spacecraft unfurls in space, Webb will undergo the most difficult and complex deployment sequence ever attempted in space.
- This image shows the full-scale James Webb Space Telescope model at South by Southwest in Austin.