James Webb Space Telescope Has Completed Testing and is Ready to Go

It has taken forever but now It's official , tests are complete and JWST is being put into a box ready to be shipped to it's launchpad and awaiting lift to space courtesy of an Ariane 5 rocket.

A thing of beauty.

While shipment operations are underway, teams located in Webb’s Mission Operations Center (MOC) at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore will continue to check and recheck the complex communications network it will use in space. Recently this network fully demonstrated that it is capable of seamlessly sending commands to the spacecraft. Live launch rehearsals are underway within the MOC with the explicit purpose of preparing for launch day and beyond. There is much to be done before launch, but with integration and testing formally concluded, NASA’s next giant leap into the cosmic unknown will soon be underway.

Once Webb arrives in French Guiana, launch processing teams will configure the observatory for flight. This involves post-shipment checkouts to ensure the observatory hasn’t been damaged during transport, carefully loading the spacecraft’s propellant tanks with hydrazine fuel and nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer it will need to power its rocket thrusters to maintain its orbit, and detaching ‘remove before flight’ red-tag items like protective covers that keep important components safe during assembly, testing, and transport. Then engineering teams will mate the observatory to its launch vehicle, an Ariane 5 rocket provided by ESA (European Space Agency), before it rolls out to the launch pad. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.

The James Webb Space Telescope is an amazing feat of human ingenuity, made more impressive by the obstacles Webb personnel overcame to deliver this amazing space science observatory. Earthquakes, a devastating hurricane, snowstorms, blizzards, wildfires, and a global pandemic are only some of what the people behind Webb endured to ensure success. Webb’s story is one of perseverance – a mission with contributions from thousands of scientists, engineers, and other professionals from more than 14 countries and 29 states, in nine different time zones.
www.nasa.gov...

Hopefully Christmas will come early this year.

Really excited to see the end results. Should be spectacular. mindblowing even.

a reply to: gortex
If this telescope is as good as they say it is I think we will all get some real fantastic images.

Just think about all the enjoyment we got from the Hubble telescope and all those amazing images.

It might take years to get these things just right but imo the wait is worth it.

I have the impression I was young when I first heard about it, but we're finally there. Almost, lol.

Like many, I can't wait to see the results it will produce.

Thanks for the update about it.

These are the times that try the faith of men in NASA.


Let's hope we get that LONG awaited godspeed moment.

Edit to add:

I appreciate your efforts in keeping us informed. I have many things to focus on these days and this is "fall by the wayside" news a lot of the time, though it shouldn't be.

Thanks OP.

I used a telescope in kerbal space program that looks the same as the james Web telescope.

the scale of things are 4 x smaller then real life.

Didnt expect it to be this big though!

Hope everything goes it's ways, it's still on the ground and has to be lifted into the sky, inserted at the correct speed and height and go operational.

Then finally it can begin it's racist-genderphobic mission.

a reply to: gortex


Wasn't the name James Webb removed because SJW's disapproved of the name?

a reply to: gortex

Looks like they've got the date on the books for 18 December.

NASA will finally launch the James Webb Space Telescope on December 18th

Hopefully no issues with their launch cadence. There are three launches ahead of it, one being a French military sigint constellation which could pull priority. Other two are a communications satellite and two Galileo satellites. It's unlikely that any would cause delays, but who'd have thought it'd take this long to get to this point even?

a reply to: gortex

The tests are important they have to make sure the mirror and heat shield deploy properly or it's game over. Without the heat shield deploying all it will see is the heat from a planet with 8 billion people on it. What will be groundbreaking is this telescope in infrared will allow us to look back in time to around 100 million years after the big bang. It would also be sensitive enough to detect another civilization if we get lucky. Just don't expect the visuals we get from Hubble since JWST is infrared.

I have been waiting for this thing to launch for a long time. A very long time.

James Webb is now fueled and ready for its launch a week tomorrow , they just need to stick it on the rocket first.

Now that Webb is fueled, the mission team will begin "combined operations," according to the statement. In this phase, the teams behind the rocket and the telescope will come together to mount Webb on the Ariane 5 rocket and encapsulate it within the rocket's fairing. The newly joined pair will then be moved to the Final Assembly building for final preparations before liftoff.
www.space.com...