Arianespace – Astronomy Now

NASA resumes James Webb launch preps after incident review

26 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Engineers find no damage to James Webb Space Telescope after ground-processing incident that jostled the $10 billion observatory.

NASA, ESA target 18 December for long-awaited James Webb launch

8 September 2021 Astronomy Now

NASA and ESA are targeting 18 December for the long-awaited launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.

Ariane 5 launches two satellites on 7-year voyage to Mercury

21 October 2018 William Harwood

A powerful European Ariane 5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana late Friday and boosted a pair of satellites into space for a seven-year plunge into the inner solar system, a voyage requiring seven planetary flybys to slow down enough in the sun’s gravitational clutches to slip into orbit around hellish Mercury.

JWST launch slips to early 2019

5 October 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.

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

9 May 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

25 January 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.