Did you watch the James Webb Space Telescope launch? If you did–and you stayed with the broadcast beyond the successful launch–you will have seen some dramatic images of it separating from the Ariane 5 launch vehicle and beginning its one million miles journey.

That key moment occurred when Webb was 75 miles/120 kilometers above the Earth, with Webb almost immediately unfolding its solar array to give it power. The mission was live!

The first of three mid-course correction burns was made 12 hours and 30 minutes after launch, firing Webb’s thrusters to manoeuvre the spacecraft on a trajectory toward its destination.

A joint effort between NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the CSA (Canadian Space Agency), Webb is the most advanced space telescope yet and is expected to begin a new era in cosmology.

Webb will now begin a month-long journey to orbit the second Lagrange point (L2), a point in space where it can follow Earth in orbit of the Sun, but in the direction away from the Sun.

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