NASA's $10 Billion James Webb Telescope is fully deployed and has successfully completed the unfolding of it's massive 21 feet and 4 inch mirror. The mirror was so large it was unable to fit inside a rocket. So engineers got to work and designed the telescope as a series of moving parts that folded up and could fit inside a space about 16-feet to launch into space. Also attached to the telescope is a sunshield about the size of a tennis court.
The James Webb Space Telescope traveled about a million miles and should have enough fuel for 20 years. The Webb will be doing research that no ground telescope is capable of doing.
“Today, NASA achieved another engineering milestone decades in the making. While the journey is not complete, I join the Webb team in breathing a little easier and imagining the future breakthroughs bound to inspire the world,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
“The James Webb Space Telescope is an unprecedented mission that is on the precipice of seeing the light from the first galaxies and discovering the mysteries of our universe. Each feat already achieved and future accomplishment is a testament to the thousands of innovators who poured their life’s passion into this mission.”
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