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High-stakes sunshield deployment begins on Webb telescope

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Artist’s illustration of the Webb telescope’s sunshield pallet opening. Credit: NASA Mission controllers started the risky process Tuesday to unfurl the James Webb Space Telescope’s sunshield, a five-layer thermal barrier necessary to give the observatory infrared vision into the distant universe. Two large pallets containing the sunshield membranes were folded up on each side of …

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Webb telescope completes first course correction burn, deploys main antenna

Ariane 5, Mission Reports, News, X Home Page Highlight / By

  A view of the circular high-gain antenna in its stowed position on the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now The James Webb Space Telescope fired its rocket thrusters for the first time late Saturday to line up for course toward an observing post nearly a million miles from Earth, then …

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Webb telescope finally leaves Earth in search of light from first galaxies

Ariane 5, Mission Reports, News, X Home Page Highlight / By

An Ariane 5 rocket, propelled by a main engine and two solid-fueled boosters, leaps off the pad at the Guiana Space Center with the James Webb Space Telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope, a NASA-led international collaboration that took nearly 30 years and $10 billion to get to the launch pad, finally left Earth with …

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Europe’s spaceport, flagship launcher ready for historic Webb mission

Ariane 5, Mission Reports, News, X Home Page Highlight / By

An Ariane 5 rocket reaches the ELA-3 launch zone Thursday at the Guiana Space Center, the final port of call for the James Webb Space Telescope before it ascends into orbit. Credit: ESA/S. Corvaja Teams in French Guiana positioned a European Ariane 5 rocket into its starting blocks Thursday, ready for liftoff Christmas morning with …

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Webb will take next leap in search for habitable worlds

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Artist’s concept of the James Webb Space Telescope in its deployed configuration. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab Beginning next year, the James Webb Space Telescope will scan a sampling of the nearly 5,000 alien worlds discovered around other stars to help astronomers identify which of the rocky planets might have atmospheres that could sustain life. When scientists …

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Webb telescope is a ‘time machine’ for astronomers to see the cosmic dawn

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The James Webb Space Telescope inside Northrop Grumman’s factory in Redondo Beach, California. Credit: Northrop Grumman The James Webb Space Telescope, set for launch in the coming days, will look back more than 13.5 billion years in time to see the faint infrared light from the first galaxies, revealing a previously unseen era of cosmic …

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H-2A rocket deploys powerful satellite for mobile telecom operator Inmarsat

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A Japanese H-2A rocket takes off from Tanegashima Space Center with the Inmarsat 6 F1 satellite. Credit: MHI The first in a new line of powerful dual-band satellites for Inmarsat’s communications network linking ships, airplanes, and other mobile customers successfully launched Wednesday aboard a Japanese H-2A rocket. The satellite, named Inmarsat 6 F1 or I6 …

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Launch of Webb telescope delayed to Christmas morning

Ariane 5, Mission Reports, News, X Home Page Highlight / By

Mirror segments on the James Webb Space Telescope reflect members of the Ariane 5 and Webb teams in French Guiana. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/P. Baudon A poor weather forecast at the Guiana Space Center in South America has forced officials to delay the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope by one day to Dec. 25, Christmas …

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SpaceX’s final launch of the year set for early Tuesday, weather permitting

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A Falcon 9 rocket emerges from SpaceX’s hangar at Kenned Space Center for the quarter-mile trip up the ramp to launch pad 39A. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s 31st and final Falcon 9 launch of the year is scheduled to take off early Tuesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, weather permitting, with a Dragon cargo ship carrying …

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Japanese space tourists return to Earth

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Russian commander Alexander Misurkin smiles after getting out of the Soyuz MS-20 landing capsule, visible at bottom. Credit: Roscosmos Two Japanese space tourists and a veteran Russian cosmonaut departed the International Space Station and landed back on Earth Sunday, capping a 12-day mission with a parachute-assisted touchdown in frigid Kazakhstan. The Soyuz MS-20 space capsule …

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