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The James Webb Space Telescope, intended to peer deep into the cosmos from beyond the moon, is progressing well in development and is on track for a planned June 2013 launch, officials said on Thursday.
Edward Weiler, head of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said after cost overruns a couple of years ago, the project has met every technical, cost and schedule milestone for the past 20 months. The launch date already has slipped from 2011.
The Webb telescope is envisioned as the first of a new generation of space observatories, set to orbit nearly a million miles from Earth to allow scientists to look further into the universe than ever before in five decades of space exploration.
Scientists hope the new telescope can collect data on the early universe after the Big Bang, and on planets outside our solar system, including evidence of whether life might exist on them.
The Webb telescope will be more powerful and capable than the aging Hubble, which has greatly expanded the understanding of the cosmos since its launch in 1990. The Webb is due to be placed in a more distant orbit beyond the moon.