PARIS, December 25. /TASS/: The payload part of the Ariane 5 rocket carrying the James Webb orbital telescope has separated from the rocket, according to the Arianespace online livestream.
The James Webb orbital telescope has separated from the Ariane 5 carrier rocket, it delivered the telescope into orbit. The telescope will travel to its destination at the second Lagrange point for four weeks, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). This point is located four times further from the Earth than the Moon on the opposite side of the Sun.
The launch was initially planned for December 18, but was postponed several times due to various reasons.
The James Webb telescope is a joint project of NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency. According to Space News, NASA invested $8.8 billion, while ESA invested $815 million and Canada invested $165 million.
The telescope, named after the Apollo program leader James Webb, will replace the Hubble telescope. It was initially planned for 2013, but the project fell behind schedule. NASA admitted later that the telescope developers "underestimated its technical complexity."
The telescope will be equipped with a 6.5-meter mirror - the largest ever taken into orbit. The James Webb will study the oldest stars and galaxies, formed after the Big Bang, and look for potentially habitable planets. It is expected to operate for 10 years.
