Space: successful launch of the James Webb telescope

Exceptional Christmas gift for scientists around the world: James Webb, the largest space telescope ever built by man, was successfully launched by the Ariane 5 rocket on Saturday, December 25, from Kourou (French Guiana). It is the result of nearly thirty years of international collaboration. In the control room, an exceptional fact, Europeans rub shoulders with Americans. Everyone is relieved when the space telescope is released into orbit. “There was a wait, it was very moving”, explains Pierre Ferruit, of the European Space Agency (ESA).

The final orbit of the James Webb will be 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, four times farther from the Moon. Thanks to its infrared technology, it will be able to track the first galaxies, black holes or signs of life around exoplanets. “We mainly want to observe the most distant galaxies in the universe, those formed after the Big Bang”, says Mark McCaughrean, Scientific Advisor at ESA. The deployment of the James Webb will last approximately thirty days, during which scientists “will still bite their fingers a lot”, says the chief science officer of ESA. The telescope is expected to send its first images within six months.