For the James Webb Space Telescope, getting into space is
just step one. The telescope must complete a complicated
series of unfolding steps before it can observe the cosmos.
The entire sequence, including getting the science instruments
ready, will take about six months.
“A lot has to go right, that’s for sure,” says astronomer
Scott Friedman of the Space Telescope Science Institute in
Baltimore, who is in charge of this timeline. Webb will be
heading to a point in space called L2, which is too far from
Earth for astronauts to visit and make repairs. “There’s every
reason to believe things will go very well,” Friedman says.
“But we won’t know until we get there.”
CREDITS Story -
Lisa Grossman
Production - Helen Thompson
Video
- NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,
SkyWorks Digital
, Northrop Grumman
, STScI
Music
- we20fifty/Storyblocks
