(ORDO NEWS) — NASA is targeting Friday next week – Christmas Eve – as the launch date for the next generation of space observatory.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson confirmed last Friday that the James Webb Space Telescope will be sent into orbit on December 24th. The European launch vehicle Ariane will be used to send this telescope into orbit, which will take place from the site of the Cosmo drome located in French Guiana in South America.
The Webb telescope, with a total value of close to $ 10 billion and considered the scientific successor to the legendary Hubble Space Observatory, was due to go into space on Saturday, but a number of technical difficulties led to a double postponement of the launch date.
Officials from the US and European space agencies have agreed to set Christmas Friday as a launch date after another round of tests is completed.
Nelson expects the number of people in attendance at the launch site to now decrease due to the holidays. The start will take place at 7:20 am local time EST (12:20 GMT).
The James Webb Space Telescope will peer deep into the universe, observing the beginning of time, the formation of the first stars and galaxies, while studying closer objects, such as the atmospheres of planets orbiting nearby stars. NASA’s partners in this mega-project are the European and Canadian Space Agencies.
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