The James Webb Space Telescope is now targeted to launch on Christmas Day at the earliest.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Dangerously high wind will keep NASA’s newest space telescope on the ground for at least an extra day, with the launch now targeted for Saturday — Christmas Day — at the earliest.
NASA announced the latest delay Tuesday. Upper-level high wind could force a rocket off-course or even damage or destroy it.The James Webb Space Telescope will soar from French Guiana on South America’s northeastern coast, aboard a European Ariane rocket. Launch managers will meet again Wednesday to assess the weather.
The $10 billion infrared observatory is considered the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, in orbit since 1990. During a news conference Tuesday, NASA officials said the rocket and telescope were in good shape, and that the only lingering, though tolerable problem was an intermittent communication relay between the two. The issue earlier forced a two-day delay; a clamp that inadvertently jolted the telescope at the launch site had prompted a four-day slip.
These last-minute snags come after years of delays and cost overruns for Webb, the biggest and most powerful science observatory ever built for space.The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
James Webb Space Telescope
Read more »
Watch this space: New telescope to unlock mysteries of the cosmosINTERACTIVE: This gold-plated, alien-hunting space telescope is about to begin a journey that could reveal some of the universe's most enduring mysteries and take us billions of years back in time. Here's how it'll work and why it’s so significant →
Read more »
$10 billion space telescope promises deepest look yet into universeYears behind schedule and billions over budget, the James Webb Space Telescope — is finally poised for launch on a make-or-break mission to peer all the way back to nearly the Big Bang that created the cosmos.
Read more »
Japanese space tourists depart International Space Station | AP NewsA Japanese billionaire, his producer and a Russian cosmonaut wrapped up a 12-day mission to the International Space Station and are heading back to Earth. It was the first visit by self-paying space tourists to the orbiting outpost in more than a decade.
Read more »