You can’t watch NASA’s Webb Space Telescope mission trailer and not get excited

NASA has released a caravan for the forthcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, a new space- grounded overlook that will be the most important space telescope in the world. Set for launch on Christmas day, James Webb will be the successor to the cherished Hubble Space Telescope and will allow astronomers to look further out into the darkness of space than ever ahead.

NASA/ Chris Gunn

Telescopes like James Webb are launched into space so they do n’t have to look through the water in Earth’s atmosphere to observe objects in space, which allows them to see further out and in further detail. James Webb is packed with scientific instruments like spectrographs and infrared cameras which will allow it to image distant stars and to study other objects like black holes and exoplanets (via NASA) Though it continues to capture beautiful images of space, the Hubble telescope is now further than 30 times old and its tackle is beginning to fail. NASA will keep Hubble running as long as possible, but the agency also needs a newer, more advanced telescope to perform more complex wisdom. That’s where James Webb comes by.

Erected through transnational cooperation between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency, James Webb has been a long time coming and has been hit with numerous, numerous detainments during its development. But it’s now ready to launch, set to blast off on Christmas day, 25th December 2021, from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, which is on the northeastern seacoast of South America.

The launch will use an Ariane 5 rocket to carry the telescope into route. In order to fit the telescope inside the rocket, corridor of it had to be folded up, including its huge, tennis- court-sized sunshield. The overlook’s sunshield features an origami-suchlike design, so it can fold over small to fit in the rocket and also be stationed once the telescope is in route. The public is invited to watch the event on NASA TV starting at 6 AM ET on December 25.

To celebrate this instigative launch, NASA’s videotape caravan uses the inspiring words of notorious astronomer Carl Sagan along with footage of James Webb being erected and images of some of the space marvels it’ll study. In the words of the great Sagan, “ If we crave some cosmic purpose, also let us find ourselves a good thing.”