Emmanuel Macron, Joe Biden congratulate teams that helped launch James Webb Telescope

On the successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, President of France Emmanuel Macron took to Twitter to congratulate everyone involved in carrying out the operation that would unfold the mysteries of the universe. The James Webb Space Telescope was lifted skyward by an Ariane 5 rocket that took off from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. The French President said the launch of the new telescope will forever be a remarkable day in the history of space exploration. "To look far away, so far that we could time travel. December 25, 2021, will forever remain in the history of the conquest of space. Well done to the teams, especially our French and European teams. What pride! "Go, Webb!" Macron tweeted.

A day ago, US President Joe Biden also congratulated the entire team of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) who were involved in the launch of the James Webb telescope. Biden said this telescope is a shining example of power. He remarked that this project would be a "risky endeavor, but with great risk comes big rewards." Meanwhile, the Russian space research agency, Roscosmos, also extended its congratulations following the successful launch.

The James Webb telescope is believed to be one of the largest and most powerful space telescopes ever launched. The highly advanced telescope will replace the widely popular Hubble telescope. The James Webb telescope is currently over 67,800 miles (109,110 kilometers) away from Earth and will reach Lagrange point 2 (L2), located nearly 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away from Earth. According to NASA, Webb will reach L2 in the next 30 days, and it is expected to start taking pictures of the universe in about six months. 

About Webb James Space Telescope

NASA's $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is designed to capture images beyond Hubble’s range. The new scope is named after one of the architects of the Apollo Moon landings, it is the successor of the Hubble telescope, and is built by a team of scientists from US European, and Canadian space agencies. According to a release by NASA, "Webb will capture light, stretched over space and time into long infrared wavelengths, from the universe’s first stars and galaxies."

Once the spacecraft has fully unfolded in space and begun collecting data, it will provide an unprecedented window into our universe’s deep past". The newly built telescope is equipped with a tennis-court-size sun shield that will block MIRI and the other instruments from the sun’s heat, allowing them to cool passively. The new scope will be able to detect and analyze infrared light — a key difference from Hubble, which only detects ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. 

Image: AP