James Webb Space Telescope – Page 3

NASA gears up for brisk launch pace, starting with weather satellite

February 14, 2018 Stephen Clark

Engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center tasked with overseeing launches of scientific satellites and interplanetary probes will be responsible later this year for ensuring six major missions safely get into space over a span of a little more than six months, beginning with the launch of NOAA’s new GOES-S weather observatory on an Atlas 5 rocket March 1.

End to government shutdown should limit impact on space operations

January 22, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA and the U.S. Air Force are expected to return to normal operations Tuesday after lawmakers passed a budget bill Monday evening, ending a government funding lapse that threatened to cut off live television coverage of an International Space Station spacewalk and interrupt SpaceX launch operations in Florida and California.

James Webb Space Telescope completes critical end-to-end test

January 15, 2018 William Harwood

NASA’s $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope has completed critical end-to-end testing in a giant vacuum chamber at the Johnson Space Center, proving the telescope will work properly in the deep cold of space, bring starlight to a sharp focus and precisely track its astronomical targets when launched in 2019.

Jupiter’s moons, black holes, exoplanets among JWST’s first scientific targets

December 4, 2017 Stephen Clark

The James Webb Space Telescope should start returning its first scientific results by the end of 2019, and scientists recently announced a slate of observations selected to whet the appetites of astronomers who will use the multibillion-dollar facility well into the 2020s.

JWST launch slips to early 2019

October 4, 2017 Stephen Clark

Extra testing of the James Webb Space Telescope and delays in assembling the powerful observatory will push back the $10 billion mission’s launch by at least six months to early 2019, officials announced last week as the telescope successfully completed an extensive performance test inside a cryogenic vacuum chamber in Houston.

Q&A with Eric Smith, JWST program director

September 29, 2017 Stephen Clark

NASA’s senior manager in charge of the development of the James Webb Space Telescope, Eric Smith, recently spoke with Spaceflight Now about the decision to reschedule its launch from October 2018 to the spring of 2019.

NASA flight controllers shelter in place during storm

August 27, 2017 William Harwood

Flight controllers and other essential personnel at NASA’s Johnson Space Center just south of Houston are sheltering in place, maintaining contact with the International Space Station during torrential rain and flooding across south Texas from the slow-moving remnants of Hurricane Harvey.

James Webb Space Telescope shipped to Texas for its biggest test yet

May 9, 2017 Stephen Clark

The centerpiece of the James Webb Space Telescope has arrived at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for a three-month test to ensure the observatory’s sensors and gold-coated mirrors work in the frigid temperatures of deep space.

NASA resumes JWST vibration testing

January 25, 2017 Stephen Clark

Vibration testing on the James Webb Space Telescope, the multibillion-dollar successor to Hubble, has resumed after engineers traced a problem that cropped up last month to a restraint holding part of the observatory’s giant segmented mirror in place for launch.

Engineers examine unexpected readings from JWST shake test

December 20, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA says engineers are diagnosing the source of “anomalous readings” during a recent vibration test of the sensitive optics and sensors at the heart of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.