NASA’s latest, biggest project is finally up in space. The James Webb Space Telescope launched on Christmas Day, beginning a long-delayed and highly anticipated space and science mission.
The new $10 billion telescope will study the earliest stars in the universe as well as other cosmic mysteries. NASA says that the telescope will examine 13.5 billion years of cosmic history, making it a revolutionary project.
It is the most powerful, as well as the biggest, telescope that has ever been launched into space.
On Sunday, the telescope successfully deployed its critical antenna, which is the device that will be used to send data twice a day back down to Earth. This is the latest step in what will be a month-long project to officially prepare the telescope for its mission.
The Webb telescope is now on its 29-day journey to reach Lagrange Point 2, known as L2, which is a stable point in space nearly 1 million miles away from planet Earth. From L2, the Webb telescope will observe the universe and report back.
The telescope is an infrared observatory with technology that will bring back the most detailed observations to be made yet.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris commended NASA for the launch. Both congratulated NASA from their official Twitter accounts.
Biden said that the Webb telescope is an example of the power of dreaming big and that the U.S. has always known it was a risky endeavor, but with great risk comes great reward. Harris said that it marked an important historical moment and that the Webb telescope will make way for huge scientific advancements as well as a deeper understanding of the universe we exist in.
The project has suffered delays because of weather issues. It launched from the Europeans Space Agency facility located in French Guiana.
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