Author Topic: James Webb on track for October 2021 launch; final testing underway  (Read 339 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Elderberry

  • TBR Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,284
Spaceflight by Chris Gebhardt November 17, 2020

In a virtual update, NASA and Northrop Grumman confirmed the James Webb Space Telescope remains on track for launch on 31 October 2021 atop an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana.

Final pre-launch processing milestones with the telescope, meanwhile, continue at Northrop Grumman’s Redondo Beach, California, facility, with teams currently working toward shipment of the observatory to its South American launch site in August 2021.

“2020 has been a challenging year due to COVID,” said Greg Robinson, James Webb Space Telescope Program Director at NASA Headquarters.  “However, Webb has made significant progress regardless, and that’s because of a highly dedicated team.  And we don’t take that for granted.”

Recently completed milestones include the first-ever full observatory electrical test as well as the culmination of environmental, vibration, and acoustic testing to ensure the telescope will operate in the temperature realm it will be exposed to in space as well as survive the sound and vibrations that will be imparted to it by the Ariane 5 rocket.

More: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/11/james-webb-on-track-final-testing