NASA has announced the JWST will be check again , though just for a couple of days . It ’s possible the launching will now take piazza on Christmas evening in what will hopefully be a Christmas miracle .
However , this piddling bit of speculative news comes on a wave of much more bright things . Over the last few solar day , the excitation for the launching of the next - generation blank space telescope , successor to Hubble , has been steady increase as the JWST was lifted andmoved on top of the Ariane 5rocket that will take the space observatory to deep blank space .
“ The James Webb Space Telescope squad is working a communicating issue between the observatory and the launch vehicle system . This will delay the launching engagement to no earlier than Friday , Dec. 24 , ” consort toNASA .
NASA has said more selective information will be published at the latest on Friday , December 17 , hopefully with the news that the communication issue is now fixed and that there ’s a confirmed launch day of the month and clock time . Do n’t worry , we ’ll keep you station .
The JWST will be place in a special location in quad called L2 ( Lagrangian Point 2 ) far beyond the arena of the Moon and further than any human has hold up before . This means it ca n’t be sterilize easily like Hubble , so everything needs to mold utterly from the outset . This is why the team is take on such aid in making certain that everything is function exactly as it should , however long it takes — to the reference of skill , and the detriment of astronomers ' nerve everywhere .
The space observatory is named after James Webb , the former NASA administrator during the Apollo program ( 1961 - 68 ) . The alternative of name has now becomecontroversialas the involvement of Webb in the LGBT witchhunt that date gay and epicene scientist and civil servants purged from US Union jobs during the McCarthy old age has come to light . This is why you may see it only relate to as JWST rather than its full name . Many astronomers feel that the next - genesis observatory to take humanity into the future should reflect a more inclusive posture and thousands contract a petition to alter its name , butNASA has so far declinedto do so .
