The mission has successfully completed its major deployment with the fully unfolded primary mirror. The starboard side of the primary mirror was put in place today. The mirror of the most powerful space telescope is now open and ready to be used.
The process of getting the mirror in place will take a few hours, but should be done by January 8. There is still a lot of work to be done before the JWST can operate in space. The telescope and all the instruments remain after five months of cooling, aligning, and commission.
This is not the end. It is not the beginning of the end. Mark McCaughrean, the European Space Agency's Senior advisor for Science & Exploration and part of the Science Working Group, said on the internet that it was the end of the beginning. Today is a big step. Huge thanks to all the teams involved.
The Mission Operations Center at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland confirmed the completion of the final major deployment of the telescope at 10:28amEST (1528GMT) on Monday, at a mission elapsed time of 14 days, 3 hours, 8 minutes.
At the time, the distance from Earth to Webb was more than one million kilometers.
Engineering teams celebrate at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore as the second primary mirror wing of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope unfolds, before beginning the process of latching the mirror wing into place. Bill Ingalls is credited with NASA.
Engineering teams had a quick celebration as the second primary mirror wing was fully unfolded, before beginning the process of attaching the mirror wing.
From our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe, Webb will study every phase.
Engineering teams at NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Mission Operations Center at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore watch as the observatory's second primary mirror wing rotates into position. Credit: NASA.
Lee Feinberg, one of the senior engineers on the project, said that a fully unfolded primary mirror is a great thing to see.
Feinberg explained during a broadcast on NASA TV that there are several different phases of aligning the mirror segments in order for them to work as one giant telescope. The primary mirror stretches over 21 feet across and is fully deployed. Feinberg expects the testing and alignment to be done by March. The secondary mirror will be aligned with the primary.
The next-generation telescope has taken its final form, two weeks after launch, and the mirrors have completed deployment.
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Next up for him? We have five months to calibrate and align before we get the images.
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