Space News & Blog Articles

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On Thursday 23 December, the James Webb Space Telescope, safely stowed inside the fairing of ESA’s Ariane 5 launch vehicle, left the final assembly building for roll-out to the launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

December is the month of the winter solstice, which a large part of the world associates with such celebrations as Nativity festivals.

NASA and the astronomy community have poured $10 billion and more than two decades into just one piece of machinery. Now they are facing the moment of truth.

NASA is launching a huge observatory into space early Christmas morning (Dec. 25), but you don't need to worry about it hitting Santa Claus.

Spaceflight Now’s Editor, Stephen Clark, speaks with NASA’s Keith Parrish, the commissioning manager for the Webb Space Telescope. It is his job to make sure the observatory unfolds and extends correctly. He talks us through the deployment sequence in the month after launch. Find out how shake, shimmy and twirl are in the ground controller’s tool box to fix anything that goes wrong.

The James Webb Space Telescope is set to revolutionize our understanding of the universe, from the earliest stars and galaxies to the chemistry of exoplanets, asteroids and comets.

The holiday season and space might just be more closely connected than you thought. Check out this list of great Christmas space facts.

Track Santa as he proceeds with his annual Chrismtas present deliveries across the globe in a simulation by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

Amid all the excitement, there is no shortage of nerves ahead of the launch of the world's most powerful telescope.

"You've got the patch there. In fact, I was observing a little Latin phrase at the bottom, what does that say?" "'Hic Servare Diem,' which means 'Here to save the day.'"

Image: Red velvet Mars

Crescent Venus, ever thinner and lower in twilight, dives toward the Sun. Jupiter and Saturn bide their time. The bright winter constellations fill the east after dark. Mars and Antares pair up at dawn.

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The James Webb Space Telescope is safely stowed inside the fairing of ESA’s Ariane 5 launch vehicle, which is now on the launch pad undergoing final checks and fuelling for a targeted liftoff at 12:20 GMT / 13:20 CET on 25 December from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

So ... the USS Discovery is now a living, sentient starship?

Spaceflight Now’s Stephen Clark speaks to astronaut, astronomer and former NASA science head, John Grunsfeld about the upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. What big discoveries is he expecting from JWST? Is he nervous about the complex process to unfold the telescope in space? Why did his efforts to prepare JWST for possible servicing fail?

Artist’s concept of the James Webb Space Telescope in its deployed configuration. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab

Beginning next year, the James Webb Space Telescope will scan a sampling of the nearly 5,000 alien worlds discovered around other stars to help astronomers identify which of the rocky planets might have atmospheres that could sustain life.

'Eve of the Daleks' is the title for this year's special and it promises to be a Christmas cracker.

Nicolaus Copernicus proposed his theory that the planets revolved around the sun in the 1500s, when most people believed that Earth was the center of the universe.

The James Webb Space Telescope inside Northrop Grumman’s factory in Redondo Beach, California. Credit: Northrop Grumman

The James Webb Space Telescope, set for launch in the coming days, will look back more than 13.5 billion years in time to see the faint infrared light from the first galaxies, revealing a previously unseen era of cosmic history that shaped the universe of today.

Comet Leonard shines brightly in images captured by a small Chinese satellite on the backdrop of aurora and passing meteors.