Intended as a successor to the ageing Hubble Space Telescope, the long-delayed James Webb is named after NASA’s administrator during the 1960s.
“Scientists are also going to be able to examine the atmospheres of planets and determine whether or not planets could not only be habitable and suitable for humans to possibly one day colonise, but to determine whether or not those conditions are optimal for life,” he said. Reporting from Kourou, French Guiana, Al Jazeera’s Manuel Rapalo said the historic mission which has “revolutionised astronomy” is “going to allow scientists to peer back in time to the early stages of our universe”. “It’s going to give us a better understanding of our universe and our place in it: who we are, what we are, the search that’s eternal,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said earlier this week.īut he cautioned: “When you want a big reward, you have to usually take a big risk.” Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope onboard, lifts off in Kourou, French Guiana Otherwise, the observatory will not be able to peer back in time 13.7 billion years as anticipated, within a mere 100 million years of the universe-forming Big Bang. It will take a month to get there and another five months before its infrared eyes are ready to start scanning the cosmos.įirst, the telescope’s enormous mirror and sunshield need to unfurl they were folded origami-style to fit into the rocket’s nose cone. The $9bn observatory hurtled towards its destination 1.6 million kilometres (1 million miles) away – or more than four times beyond the moon. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope soared from French Guiana on South America’s northeastern coast, riding a European Ariane rocket into the morning sky on Saturday. The world’s largest and most powerful space telescope has rocketed away on a high-stakes quest to behold light from the first stars and galaxies and scour the universe for hints of life.
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