The Ariane 5 launch vehicle with the James Webb Space Telescope has been launched from the Kuru Cosmodrome, NASA reported in Twitter… The James Webb, developed with contributions from the US, Canada and the EU, is the largest space telescope to replace the Hubble launched in 1990.
The launch took place at 15:21 Moscow time. The separation of the warhead with the telescope from the launch vehicle occurred 10 minutes later. After that, “James Webb” detached from the warhead and deployed solar panels.
Over the course of four weeks, the telescope will move to the second Lagrange point, which is 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. The diameter of the James Webb mirror is 6.6 meters versus 2.4 meters for the Hubble. It is planned that the telescope will operate for at least five years, and its design life is 10 years.
The telescope is named part of the second NASA chief, James Webb. Work on the project has been going on since the late 1990s. Originally, “James Webb” was supposed to be launched in 2007, but the timing of its launch into space has been repeatedly postponed, including after completion of assembly in 2019. During this time, the planned budget has increased from $ 500 million to $ 10 billion.
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