Super telescope finally in orbit
James Webb lifts off 'from a tropical rainforest to the edge of time itself'
The world’s most powerful space telescope on Saturday blasted off into orbit, headed to an outpost 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, after years of delays caused by technical hitches.
The James Webb Space Telescope, three decades and billions of dollars in the making, left Earth aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana at 7.20am local time (7.20pm Thailand time).
Twenty-seven minutes later, it separated from the rocket and began a month-long journey to its remote destination, during which time mission controllers have to perform several extraordinarily complex and delicate manoeuvres to keep it on course.
The telescope is expected to beam back new clues that will help scientists understand more about the origins of the Universe and Earth-like planets beyond our solar system.
Named after a former Nasa director, Webb follows in the footsteps of the legendary Hubble telescope — but has been designed to show humans what the Universe looked like even closer to its birth nearly 14 billion years ago.
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