15 years in design and manufacturing and with a $10,000,000,000 price tag, the most expensive man-made object to leave the Earth finally launches in just a few hours. Powerful enough to image the “Let there be light!” moment when gases and dust from the aftermath of the Big Bang collided together to form the first stars of our Universe, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be hoisted into deep space folded up inside in the fairing of an Ariane 5 heavy lift rocket from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) launch facility in French Guiana.
This is required for a launch of this sort because the Earth’s rotation is fastest at the Equator and the Ariane 5 needs all the help it can get because it’s propelling JWST into heliocentric orbit at the L2 Lagrange Point, located ~1,000,000 miles from Earth. This is a one-shot deal that requires over 2,000 individual mechanical tasks over a 30-day trip for correct deployment and orbital insertion. I’ve been collecting and storing tons video content about JWST which I’ll post much more of in this thread over the next 30-days, but now I just want to share a link to the official launch live stream.
It’s highly likely that the JWST will change much of what we think we understand about our Universe’s origins. This is a monumental moment for those who closely follow this category of science and discovery; the prospect of finally seeing what is essentially the beginning of time. It makes my hair stand on end just thinking about it.
Fingers crossed for a nominal launch this morning at 6:20 AM CST.
This is required for a launch of this sort because the Earth’s rotation is fastest at the Equator and the Ariane 5 needs all the help it can get because it’s propelling JWST into heliocentric orbit at the L2 Lagrange Point, located ~1,000,000 miles from Earth. This is a one-shot deal that requires over 2,000 individual mechanical tasks over a 30-day trip for correct deployment and orbital insertion. I’ve been collecting and storing tons video content about JWST which I’ll post much more of in this thread over the next 30-days, but now I just want to share a link to the official launch live stream.
It’s highly likely that the JWST will change much of what we think we understand about our Universe’s origins. This is a monumental moment for those who closely follow this category of science and discovery; the prospect of finally seeing what is essentially the beginning of time. It makes my hair stand on end just thinking about it.
Fingers crossed for a nominal launch this morning at 6:20 AM CST.
Last edited:
