The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the second generation Hubble, a telescope that will allow astronomers to image the atmospheres of exoplanets and peer back into time to just seconds after the Big Bang, has successfully launched from the ESA facility in French Guiana.
In an odd example of serendipity, the launch was called by a bald Range Operations manager named Jean Luc….
Webb will take approximately a week to travel to the L2 Lagrange point, a location ahead of Earth’s orbit that is gravitationally stable, approximately one and a half million miles away from Earth.
Below, images of the launch captured from NASA television.
On the pad, minutes before launch
On the pad
Closeup of the faring covering the telescope
Low cloud cover at the launch site
Range Operations Manager Jean Luc
Lift Off
animation of the launch
The telescope, stored during flight
2nd stage
Webb in space! Successfully activated and on its way!
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