NASA Launches Revolutionary Space Telescope to Give Glimpse of Early Universe

Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket, with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope onboard, launches from Europe's Spaceport, the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, on Dec. 25, 2021, in a still image from video. NASA/NASA TV/Handout via Reuters

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, built to give the world a glimpse of the universe as it existed when the first galaxies formed, was launched by rocket early Saturday from South America’s northeastern coast, opening a new era of astronomy.

The revolutionary $9 billion infrared telescope, described by NASA as the premiere space-science observatory of the next decade, was carried aloft inside the cargo bay of an Ariane 5 rocket that blasted off at about 7:20 a.m. ET (1220 GMT) from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) launch base in French Guiana.