The world's largest and most powerful telescope has been launched into space on a mission to examine the first stars and the universe for signs of life.
The $10 billion James Webb space telescope will be the most important space-science observatory of the next decade according to scientists from the European and Canadian space agencies.
The instrument was loaded into the cargo bay of an Ariane 5 rocket that blasted off from the European Space Agency's launch base in French Guiana at 12.20pm on Saturday.
It was supposed to be released from the French-built rocket after a 26 minute ride into space, and then spend a month coasting towards its destination in a far away solar system.
A forecast of high-level winds at the spaceport forced the postponement of the launch.
The telescope needs to fit into the nose cone of the rocket and unfurl its enormous mirror and sun shield first. The observatory hopes to peer back in time to a point within 100m of the big bang.
The mirror is more than 21 feet across and is gold- plated. The sun shield is vital for keeping the observatory's heat- and light-gathering mirror and heat-sensed infrared detectors out of harms way.
Bill Nelson, the administrator of Nasa, said earlier this week that it would give them a better understanding of the universe and their place in it. He said that when you want a big reward, you have to take a big risk.
The Ariane 5 rocket is about to be launched. The image is from the Nasa/Bill Ingalls image.
The project has been worked on by thousands of people from 29 countries. There were fewer spectators at the launch site than expected because the launch fell on Christmas.
Astronomers around the world had been waiting for years to see a flight. The launch was pushed to Christmas because of last-minute technical issues. There were Santa hats in launch control.
Arianespace's chief executive said minutes before liftoff that they would launch for humanity. We will never see the skies in the same way after Webb.
