The second of three required course-correction burns was nailed by NASA's next-generation space observatory, which sailed beyond the moon.
The deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope began on Saturday. The first of the three burns to adjust the observatory's trajectory began after launch and lasted 65 minutes, but the second is now complete.
NASA officials wrote in a statement that the second mid-course correction burn began at 7:20 pm. It lasted 9 minutes and 27 seconds.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope mission is live.
The Christmas launch of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.
According to the mission, the spacecraft has crossed the moon's elliptical path. As of Tuesday, the distance from Earth to Webb was almost half a million miles. The average distance from Earth to the moon is 384,000 km.
It's been a busy night. The second burn of the NASAWebb was completed and it also passed the altitude of the Moon as it keeps cruising on to the second Lagrange point. " Bye, NASAMoon!"
The moon was not close to the ground and it was not a good idea to fly by it. The observatory was close to the moon while on the launch pad, according to astronomer Jonathan McDowell.
The third and final course-correction burn will take place about 29 days after the launch. This burn will be the mission's first stage burn, which will establish the spacecraft in a halo around a point in space known as L2 or Earth-sun lag point 2.
The location is on the side of the sun that is away from Earth. The remote location will help detect the light from the sun.
The observatory's massive sun shield was folded up for launch. The shield must be unfurled and separated from its five ultrathin layers. The mission's goal is to observe the light from the sun.
The deployment of Sunshield is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, three days after the launch, although each stage is controlled by personnel on the ground.
The sun shield's pallet and tower must be deployed first, followed by a flap and the sun shield covers. The sequence of events is estimated to take two days. The sun shield's booms will reveal it at its full width. The mission team hopes that the sun shield will be fully deployed by eight days after the launch.
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