WEBVTT FILE

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The James Webb Space Telescope

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is the largest space telescope ever built. It's tennis court

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size sunshield, along with it's 21 foot 3 inch primary mirror

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will enable Webb's instruments "see" back in time to when the first

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stars and galaxies formed after the big bang more than

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13 billions years ago. But. Webb's size is

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too big to fit into any existing rocket, so it's designed to be

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folded like origami, so it fits inside the almost

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15 foot wide payload fairing of the very powerful

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Ariane V rocket. Once in space

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the Webb Telescope is slowly unfolded in a well choreographed sequence

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of deployments. The solar panel is deployed first

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to provide power. About 12 after after lift-off

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Webb's thrusters are fired in what's called a mid-course correction

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burn, to fine tune Webb's tragectory. About 24 hours

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after lift-off, Webb's High Gain Antenna is deployed, enabling

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communication with ground controllers. Webb is traveling

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so fast, it passes the moon in about 2 days.

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Here a second mid-course correct burn sets the spacecraft

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on course toward it's orbital destination. On day

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3. special pallets holding Webb's folded sunshield deploy

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First the forward pallet, then the aft pallet

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Webb's

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central tower is extended, lifting Webb's telescope and

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instrument package to it's operational location. Webb's

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Momentum Flap is deployed. As the sun's solar pressure

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pushes against Webb's large sunshield, this flap helps stabilize

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the telescope. Special covers hold Webb's

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tennis court size sunshield in place during lunch

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these covers are now released, freeing the sunshield for deployment

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The first of Webb's sunshield mid-booms deploys.

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unfolding and extending one side of the 5-layer, Kapton

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sunshield. Then, the second sunshield mid-boom

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deploys.

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Once both booms are fully deployed

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the center rim is deployed and the sunshield is slowly tensioned.

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This separated the 5 layers.

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On the sun-facing side of the telescope, a radiator shade deploys

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to protect Webb's spacecraft systems from the sun's heat

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reflected off the sunshield. Near the 10-day mark,

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the MIRI instrument's cryo cooler is started. It begins lowering

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the MIRI instrument's temperature to about 6-degrees above Absolute Zero.

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Controllers now begin

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the process of deploying Web''s optics. Webb's Secondary

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Mirror deploys first. Then an additional radiator panel

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behind the telescope deploys. This helps remove more heat from the

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spacecraft. About 12 days after launch, the first wing

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of the Primary Mirror is rotated into place. A few days later,

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the other mirror wing is rotated into place.

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About 30 days after launch, another mid-course correction burn further tunes

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Webb's course toward its final operational orbit. About

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1 million miles away from Earth.

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During the next several months, optics engineers using Webb's NIRCam

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Instrument, will align and focus Webb's 18 Primary Mirror

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segments, into a perfect, monolithic mirror.

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It will take about 6 months before Webb is fully ready to capture its

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first science image.

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[beep beep]

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