Create account

Coverage dated December 20, 2021 to December 24, 2021

World's biggest, most powerful space telescope launches

Headline from 12News Phoenix, on the newest of 4 developments

Intended as a successor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope, the long-delayed James Webb is named after NASA’s administrator during the 1960s.

12News Phoenix's own description from its feed. We collect headlines and these descriptions, not full articles; read the original reporting below.

Developments in this update

4 dated developments, oldest first, newest marked. Each is named by one outlet's own headline; open its reports to see every outlet that covered it.

  1. This $10 billion space telescope will reveal the secrets of the universe

    Headline from Local News 8 ·

  2. NASA Set to Launch James Webb Telescope

    Headline from Voice of America ·

  3. High cost, high risk, high hopes: There’s a lot riding on the $10B James Webb Space Telescope’s launch

    Headline from Geek Wire ·

  4. Newest

    World's biggest, most powerful space telescope launches

    Headline from 12News Phoenix ·

1 report not tied to one development ·

Read the reports

Reports & sources

50 articles, oldest first.

  1. NBC News

    Watch this space: New telescope to unlock mysteries of the cosmos (opens NBC News)

    Published

    NBC News's feed description

    The James Webb Space Telescope is set to launch after decades of work. Mission critical: Unravel the most enduring mysteries in space.

  2. Newsweek

    What next for iconic Hubble telescope as James Webb poised for launch (opens Newsweek)

    Published

    Newsweek's feed description

    Hubble has given us some of the most breathtaking space images ever, and its successor, James Webb, will be able to peer even deeper into the cosmos.

  3. Fox News

    NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will launch a million miles to unwrap and explore the distant past (opens Fox News)

    Published

    Fox News's feed description

    The James Webb is set to become the most complex object ever launched into space, and the most powerful time machine ever built.

  4. Newsweek

    When NASA's groundbreaking James Webb Space Telescope will launch (opens Newsweek)

    Published

    Newsweek's feed description

    Decades in the making, James Webb will also help us to understand what the universe was like a few hundred million years after its birth.

  5. Phys

    James Webb telescope: How it could uncover some of the universe's best-kept secrets (opens Phys)

    Published

    Phys's feed description

    If everything goes according to plan on December 25, we will enter a new era of astronomy with the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It's an event that has been anticipated for a decade—it will be the largest and most expensive and complex telescope ever built, tested and launched int…

  6. Insider

    Watch NASA launch its $10 billion, game-changing James Webb Space Telescope on Christmas morning (opens Insider)

    Published

    Insider's feed description

    Webb could revolutionize astronomy by spotting the universe's first galaxies. But the telescope has to launch and travel 1 million miles from Earth.

  7. Voice of America

    NASA Set to Launch James Webb Telescope (opens Voice of America)

    Published

    Voice of America's feed description

    NASA looks likely to launch a much hyped and often-delayed space telescope. Plus, SpaceX makes history again, and a space tourist is already planning his next trip. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space.

  8. Deutsche Welle

    James Webb telescope ready for launch | DW (opens Deutsche Welle)

    Published

    Deutsche Welle's feed description

    14 years later than planned, the new James Webb astronomical telescope is ready to be launched into space. The instrument will help scientists understand more about the origins of the universe.

  9. CBS News

    James Webb Space Telescope, now at the launch pad, faces extraordinary challenges on path to discovery (opens CBS News)

    Published

    CBS News's feed description

    The world's largest space telescope, folded up to fit in a rocket, will have to unfurl itself like a high-tech origami — and that's just the beginning.

  10. Local News 8

    This $10 billion space telescope will reveal the secrets of the universe (opens Local News 8)

    Published

    Local News 8's feed description

    By Ashley Strickland, CNN We’re about to have eyes on the invisible side of space. The James Webb Space Telescope will be the premier space observatory of the next decade when it launches Saturday. The telescope is expected to launch Saturday morning from French Guiana and live coverage will be avai…

  11. Geek Wire

    High cost, high risk, high hopes: There’s a lot riding on the $10B James Webb Space Telescope’s launch (opens Geek Wire)

    Published

    Geek Wire's feed description

    The launch of NASA’s $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope from French Guiana could mark triumph or tragedy for a generation of astronomers.

  12. Engadget

    Watch the James Webb Space Telescope launch at 7:20 AM ET (opens Engadget)

    Published

    Engadget's feed description

    After far too many delays over the years to count, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will finally make its way to space tomorrow..

  13. Newsweek

    NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will have "tremendous impact" in search for alien life (opens Newsweek)

    Published

    Newsweek's feed description

    The $10 billion dollar space telescope—the largest and most powerful ever built—promises to revolutionize our understanding of the universe.

  14. Billings Gazette

    Powerful Webb telescope launches; what discoveries await? Here's the lowdown. (opens Billings Gazette)

    Published

    Billings Gazette's feed description

    The world’s largest and most powerful space telescope rocketed away Saturday on a high-stakes quest to behold light from the first stars and galaxies and scour the universe for hints

  15. 12News Phoenix

    World's biggest, most powerful space telescope launches (opens 12News Phoenix)

    Published

    12News Phoenix's feed description

    Intended as a successor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope, the long-delayed James Webb is named after NASA’s administrator during the 1960s.

  16. Local News 8

    The James Webb Space Telescope has successfully launched (opens Local News 8)

    Published

    Local News 8's feed description

    By Ashley Strickland, CNN It’s a moment that has been decades in the making. The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s premier space observatory of the next decade, successfully launched on Christmas morning.

  17. Deutsche Welle

    Giant James Webb Space Telescope launched | DW (opens Deutsche Welle)

    Published

    Deutsche Welle's feed description

    It is the most powerful telescope ever built. The James Webb Space Telescope lifted off aboard a rocket from the European Space Agency base in French Guiana. Scientists hope it will provide new insights about the origins of the universe, and possibly extra-terrestrial life.

  18. The Conversation US

    James Webb Space Telescope: An astronomer on the team explains how to send a giant telescope to space – and why (opens The Conversation US)

    Published

    The Conversation US's feed description

    The largest orbital telescope ever made will allow astronomers to study the atmospheres of alien planets, learn about how stars form in the Milky Way and peer into the farthest reaches of the universe.

  19. Scientific American

    The James Webb Space Telescope Has Launched: Now Comes the Hard Part (opens Scientific American)

    Published

    Scientific American's feed description

    After years of delay, the most ambitious observatory ever built has at last left Earth. It now faces a high-stakes series of deployments in deep space

  20. NBC Los Angeles

    Watch Live: NASA to Launch James Webb Space Telescope, Most Powerful in History (opens NBC Los Angeles)

    Published

    NBC Los Angeles's feed description

    NASA is set to launch into space humanity’s largest and most powerful telescope, a $10 billion behemoth called the James Webb Space Telescope.

  21. Al Jazeera

    World’s most powerful telescope launched into space (opens Al Jazeera)

    Published

    Al Jazeera's feed description

    James Webb Space Telescope seeks out light from the first stars and galaxies, providing a glimpse into cosmic creation.

  22. Fox News

    NASA launches James Webb Space Telescope deep into space to see 'distant worlds' and back in time (opens Fox News)

    Published

    Fox News's feed description

    NASA launched its $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope Saturday in a flagship mission to find light from "first galaxies" and "distant worlds."

  23. Insider

    NASA launches its long-awaited $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope, kicking off a cosmic revolution (opens Insider)

    Published

    Insider's feed description

    NASA's biggest space telescope has faced about a decade of delays and budget cuts. It finally screamed past Earth's atmosphere on Saturday.

  24. The Atlantic

    A Space Telescope Is on Its Way to Show Us More of Everything (opens The Atlantic)

    Published

    The Atlantic's feed description

    Exhale—after more than 25 years of development, the James Webb Space Telescope has left Earth.

  25. NPR

    Watch live: NASA is launching the most powerful space telescope ever (opens NPR)

    Published

    NPR's feed description

    The James Webb Space Telescope is set to take off from French Guinea around 7:20 a.m. ET on Saturday. The NASA mission is decades in the making and should reveal the earliest galaxies in the universe.

Showing the first 25 of 29 headlines. ·

Identical headlines usually mean shared wire copy. They are counted as separate articles but are not independent confirmation.

World's biggest, most powerful space telescope launches | Since Then