James Webb Space Telescope To Be Launched On Christmas Day From French Guiana; Know All About NASA's Next 'Great Space Observatory'

Cayenne, December 24: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will launch the James Webb Space telescope on December 25. The mammoth telescope is scheduled to launch at 7:20 am eastern time from South America's northeastern coast. Notably, the James Webb Telescope's launch was already delayed twice within a week due to a technical snag. The telescope is touted as NASA's next great space observatory. Hubble Telescope Captures Unprecedented, Early View of Destruction of Doomed Star.

Before Christmas Day, the telescope was scheduled to launch on Friday. However, it was postponed due to poor weather at the launch site. It has witnessed a set of delays. Thousands of people have worked on it over the decades. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Successfully Completes Final Testing and is Ready to Ship, Says US Space Agency.

Know All About The Telescope:

• The James Webb Space Telescope will launch on an Ariane 5 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.
• The entire cost of the telescope is USD 10 billion.
• The James Webb Space Telescope is considered the successor to the iconic Hubble Space Telescope.
• The telescope will explore every phase of cosmic history -- from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe and everything in between.
• The Webb Space Telescope is an international partnership with the European and Canadian space agencies.
• The Webb uses two types of detectors in order to sense shorter or longer wavelength light.

"The James Webb Space Telescope is the most complex space science observatory ever built. Its revolutionary science is made possible by key contributions from NASA's expertise in Silicon Valley, and will allow scientists to explore parts of the universe never seen before," NASA said.

Notably, the Webb was first targeted to launch in March this year. It was later pushed back to October due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and technical challenges. In September, NASA confirmed its plans to launch the telescope into orbit on December 18, which was again moved back to December 22 and then to December 24.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 24, 2021 09:11 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).