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5 videos

  1. Webb’s 344 Single Points of Failure: Torn Sunshield to L2 Orbit

    Mission: 2021Published: 3 Nov 2026

    The James Webb Space Telescope lifted off on an Ariane 5 from French Guiana on Christmas Day 2021 and then unfolded itself on its way to a point nearly a million miles from Earth.

    View mission: James Webb Space Telescope (2021)
    Launch site
    French Guiana
    Outcome
    Success

  2. Why Webb Had to Unfold, Align and Cool Before Seeing Clearly

    Mission: 2021Published: 3 Nov 2026

    An explainer on why the James Webb Space Telescope had to travel folded and then become an aligned, cooled, tested observatory.

    View mission: James Webb Space Telescope (2021)

  3. Webb Space Telescope: 344 Failure Points and the Deepest Images

    Mission: 2021Published: 2 Nov 2026

    A documentary on the James Webb Space Telescope, from its troubled development to its Ariane 5 launch on Christmas Day 2021 and the 29 days of deployment with 344 single-point failures.

    View mission: James Webb Space Telescope (2021)
    Launch site
    French Guiana
    Outcome
    In progress

  4. Webb and Rubin Compared: Deep Fields Versus the Whole Southern Sky

    Published: 30 Jun 2025

    A comparison of the James Webb Space Telescope and the Vera Rubin Observatory, which released its first images the week the video was made.

  5. Ariane 5 VA256 Launches Webb Telescope From Kourou, 25 Dec 2021

    Mission: 2021Published: 25 Dec 2021

    An Ariane 5 (flight VA256) launched the James Webb Space Telescope from ELA 3 at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou on 25 December 2021 at 12:20 UTC.

    View mission: James Webb Space Telescope (2021)
    Launch site
    Ariane Launch Complex No. 3 (ELA 3), Guiana Space Centre, Kourou, French Guiana