(Nasa Photo via AFP)The world’s most powerful space telescope on Saturday blasted off into orbit, headed to an outpost 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, after years of delays caused by technical hitches. (Story continues below)An Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket, with the James Webb Space Telescope onboard, launches from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana on Saturday. Once James Webb reaches its final position, the challenge will be to fully deploy the mirror and a tennis-court-sized sun shield. Astronomical operation of the telescope, to be managed from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, is expected to begin in June 2022, following about six months of alignment and calibration of the mirrors and instruments. The telescope is an international collaboration led by Nasa in partnership with the European and Canadian space agencies.

Source: Bangkok Post December 25, 2021 18:05 UTC