NASA’s Most Powerful Telescope Ever Launches Successfully

While the billionaire space race increasingly crowds the stars with tech moguls and celebrities, NASA continues its scientific work. On Christmas morning, NASA launched its most powerful telescope ever. The James Webb Space Telescope launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket into space. The telescope will serve as NASA’s primary observation point for the next decade. NASA announced the successful launch on Twitter, tweeting, “We have LIFTOFF of the @NASAWebb Space Telescope! At 7:20am ET (12:20 UTC), the beginning of a new, exciting decade of science climbed to the sky. Webb’s mission to #UnfoldTheUniverse will change our understanding of space as we know it.”

NASA launched the Webb from a European Space Agency spaceport in French Guiana. The ESA is looking at the Christmas launch as a holiday present. Following the launch, it tweeted, “