NASA Nails Trickiest Job on Newly Launched Space Telescope

This combination of images from a computer animation depicts the unfolding of the components of the James Webb Space Telescope, made available by NASA in December 2021. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab via AP

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—NASA aced the most complicated, critical job on its newly launched space telescope Tuesday: unrolling and stretching a sunshade the size of a tennis court.

Ground controllers cheered and bumped fists once the fifth and final layer of the sunshield was tightly secured. It took just 1.5 days to tighten the ultra-thin layers using motor-driven cables, half the expected time.