![]() It was also the age of America's moon missions, but just short of Apollo 11, the first one to touch down. That was the Cold War era, a time of social upheaval in the US. Webb "played a key role in retaining an active science program at NASA in the agency's early years," wrote a spokesperson in an email to DW. In 2002, then-NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe decided to rename the telescope from the "Next Generation Space Telescope" in honor of Webb. Before that, he had been an undersecretary at the US State Department. James Webb was NASA's second-ever administrator - that is, its head or director, serving from 1961 to 1968. It's a big moment in space - and thus understandable that some refer to the telescope as a "monument" to international space discovery. The Canadian Space Agency has provided sensors and instruments at a reported cost of 200 million Canadian dollars. The European Space Agency has provided two science instruments and an Ariane 5 rocket for the launch, currently (re)scheduled for December 25, 2021, at a reported total cost of €700 million. It's also one of the most expensive missions in the history of space research, costing the US roughly $10 billion (€8.9 billion) from conception through to the end of its initial five-year operation. The telescope has been a very long time coming. That should let astronomers see through clouds of dust and gas in space and create clearer images of how the very first stars and galaxies formed, more than 13.5 billion years ago. Unlike Hubble, it will detect light in the infrared range. But NASA says the JWST won't succeed or replace Hubble, it will add to Hubble's range. ![]() Scientists started work on the telescope even before its predecessor, Hubble, launched in 1990. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The telescope in question is the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). That's where we're at in December 2021, as United States space agency NASA is readying itself to launch its largest space telescope since Hubble.Īll this division and debate threatens to discourage young scientists from entering the field, not to mention possibly detracting from the exciting scientific data set to benefit humanity. ![]() It's a debate about discrimination, specifically homophobia the historical figures we choose to honor by name and with monuments responsibility and what classifies as the truth. You don't need a telescope to see there's a heated debate in American astrophysics. It uses hetcis Black people as a shield and it erases queer Black people." Or "bringing up someone's progressive stance on race issues to downplay their participation in homophobia is anti-Black. Is it any wonder why we're such a screwed up country?" Or tweets that read: "So we'll have a homophobic Nazi-loving space telescope. It's hard to look away when you see headlines like "NASA refuses to rename giant homophobic telescope. Please scroll to the end of this text to read them. This article was amended on December 23, 2021, to reintroduce historical and contemporary context that had been included in an earlier version of the article.
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