In photos: The Christmas launch of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope



Jody Amiet is the photographer for this image.

The James Webb Space Telescope was launched into space in December of 2021.

The telescope was launched off planet Earth. The Ariane 5 rocket is built by Arianespace. The space telescope, the biggest ever built by NASA, is going to L2, a stable point in space about 1 million miles from Earth, where it will look for the first stars and galaxies in the universe.
There are photos from the launch of the space telescope.

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NASA/Chris Gunn

A $10 billion space telescope is designed to explore the universe.
It will help scientists find out how the first stars formed, seek out dark matter mysteries, and peer pack more than 13 billion years in the earliest days of the universe.
To detect the earliest light in the universe, the space telescope will use a sun shield the size of a tennis court to keep it cold.

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NASA/Chris Gunn

To get to its launch site, James Webb Space Telescope had to leave Earth.
The cargo ship carrying NASA's James Webb Space Telescope arrived in French Guiana in October of 2021. NASA and its European Space Agency partners chose Arianespace's Ariane 5 heavy-lift rocket to carry the observatory because it couldn't fit inside most U.S. rockets.

The space telescope was shipped by cargo ship to the site with some secrecy because the mission team was concerned about pirates.
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The image is from the ESA-M.Pedoussaut.

Arianespace worked to install the James Webb Space Telescope atop its Ariane 5 rocket.
There were some issues during the assembly. The launch was delayed as engineers checked to make sure the launch was ok. The data cable between the rocket and the data was malfunctioning. The mission was already delayed by two issues.

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The image was taken by S. Corvaja.

The launch pad was delayed, but the James Webb Space Telescope did reach it.
The Ariane 5 rocket carrying the space observatory made a short trip to its pad. You can see a view of the launch pad from the sky.
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The image is from NASA/Bill Ingalls.

The Ariane 5 rocket systems are being watched over by the launch controllers in Santa hats and festive face masks.

Arianespace, NASA and other mission partners were 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 International travel restrictions from the coronaviruses outbreak limited the amount of people who could travel for the launch.
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The Ariane 5 rocket is about to take off when the NASA video shows the moment of ignition.
The Ariane 5 rocket generated 2.6 million pounds of thrust at liftoff with its main stage and two strap-on boosters. It took 27 minutes to deploy the telescope.
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The Ariane 5 carrying the James Webb Space Telescope soared through the cloudy skies after it launched.

Even though the launch was delayed due to bad weather, the clouds posed no problem for the launch.
"Don't let the clouds fool you, we are going for launch," NASA's Rob Navias said before liftoff.
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The observatory was captured by a camera on the Ariane 5 rocket as it flew into space.

The location of the rocket and the state of the space telescope are shown at the bottom of the screen.
A computer-generated view shows the telescope exposed after it was thrown into the air.

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The James Webb Space Telescope separated from its Ariane 5 rocket upper stage about 27 minutes after it reached space.
A set of springs was fired to free the space telescope from the Ariane 5 upper stage.

The brilliant blue Earth is a great background for a launch.

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NASA and the world were surprised by the deployment of the only solar array on the James Webb Space Telescope.

The deployment of the solar array allowed the telescope to generate its own power. If the array had not been deployed, it would have run out of battery power.

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The image is from NASA/Bill Ingalls.

The launch team of the James Webb Space Telescope are in the final moments before liftoff.
NASA's Rob Navias said after liftoff that it was as flawless as you can imagine. On Christmas Day, everything fell together to send a gift to the world's astronomer.

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The image is from NASA/Bill Ingalls.

The Jupiter Center of the Guiana Space Center is where Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket launch control room is located.
The European Space Agency and other European countries use the space center as their primary spaceport. Russian-built rockets are launched from the spaceport.
The James Webb Space Telescope is reading.

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