The highly anticipated James Webb Space Telescope had a successful Christmas day launch and begins its 1 million mile journey
The highly anticipated James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) had a successful Christmas morning launch. Now the world watches as the $10 billion telescope begins its first 29 days on the edge on its 1 million mile journey from Earth JWST has been one of the most highly anticipated launches in recent NASA history. The advanced instruments on the observatory are expected to begin unlocking and revealing secrets of our universe as it works alongside its predecessor, the Hubble Telescope. After experiencing a couple of delays due to weather conditions and an unforeseen incident during testing, JWST has finally made its way into the great expanse of space. NASA and its international partners, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency, all watched as JWST launched from French Guiana, South America this morning. It was taken into space by a SpaceX Ariane 5 rocket and teams back on the ground received the first telemetry data transmissions from JWST just 5 minutes after launch. The Ariane 5 rocket separated from the observatory 27 minutes into the flight at an altitude of approximately 75 miles (120 km), and then returned itself back to Earth successfully. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated, « The James Webb Space Telescope represents the ambition that NASA and our partners maintain to propel us forward into the future. The promise of Webb is not what we know we will discover, it’s what we don’t yet understand or can’t fathom about our universe.
