It’s been a year since the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) launched, and after its dangerous deployment and careful collimation, it’s finally sending back incredible images and data. Getting from the launchpad to full operations, however, was no easy task. Here’s a reminder of how it all happened.
Christmas Day 2021: After nearly 25 years of development, the JWST soared into space atop an Ariane 5 rocket. Its launch was a triumph over technological tribulations, budget and schedule overruns, and even a (temporary) cancellation by the US Congress. Consequently, emotions were high as the launchpad countdown neared zero.
“It was tense,” admits Susan Mullally, the JWST’s deputy project scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore. “I couldn’t believe it was real,” adds Naomi Rowe-Gurney, a JWST GTO (Guaranteed Time Observations) postdoc at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center where she is supporting the Planetary Systems Team. “I was expecting another delay of some kind. I thought it was never going to launch.”
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