Mission Reports

Flying outbound from Earth at a distance of more than 400,000 miles, the James Webb Space Telescope extended two booms Friday and unfurled the mission’s five-layer sunshield to the size of a tennis court, notching a major milestone for the observatory after a nail-biting New Year’s Eve for astronomers and engineers on Earth.

The third test launch of Russia’s heavy-lift Angara A5 rocket Dec. 27 was marred by an upper stage failure that stranded a dummy payload in a low orbit.

The James Webb Space Telescope opened covers that protected the mission’s folded sunshield Thursday, and deployed a momentum flap to help the observatory balance against the unending light pressure from the sun.

China launched two classified Shiyan satellites Dec. 23 into a geostationary transfer orbit aboard a Long March 7A rocket, one of the country’s newest launch vehicles. The mission took off from China’s Wenchang launch base on Hainan Island.

The James Webb Space Telescope extended a four-foot tower Wednesday to give the observatory’s mirrors and instruments, designed to function at cryogenic temperatures, enough separation from the hot side of the spacecraft after the mission’s sunshield deploys over the next few days.

Mission controllers started the risky process Tuesday to unfurl the James Webb Space Telescope’s sunshield, a five-layer thermal barrier necessary to give the observatory infrared vision into the distant universe.