James Webb Telescope launches on NASA Live Stream

[denbot]

Source: NASA Live

"This is a great day for planet earth" Bill Nelson NASA Admin and bible thumper on this one..

Read more: https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#public

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The telescope separated and deployed it's solar panels on live TV.

[reACTIONary]

1. Merry X-Mass to Humanity !!

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Watched the array deploy

and the narrator sortof gasped something about it being "early" while I pointed at the screen when an "appendage" deployed.

(views had been captured from the onboard Ariane first stage camera right after separation)

[FM123]

3. Wow, thanks for this link!

[Hortensis]

4. 😊 How many dozens of things had to go right?

Fabulous !!! At kids house for Christmas, about to watch the replay.

[sarge43]

9. Thousands of things

and those are only the ones they could think of.

The Webb parking orbit will be a million miles from earth. If anything goes wrong, it won't be feasible to repair or adjust it. It's on its own. If all goes well and it sends back mind blowing data, among other things, it will be a one for the books engineering accomplishment.

[Hortensis]

10. A true wonder. My husband used to work at JPL.

Tech, not a rocket scientist. All the old friends are retired now, but we remember the jubilation. And relief. So far.

[calimary]

5. Oh good!

Very cool Christmas present!

Thanks!

[hollygolively]

6. So Great!

With the launch of every device that allows us to see farther into this universe we learn so much.

[localroger]

7. This begins the "two weeks of terror."

There are literally over a hundred events that have to go right in the next couple of weeks for the telescope to fully deploy, any one of which will jeopardize the entire mission if it fails. Of course these are the people who landed two Mars rovers with sky cranes, so there's a good chance they can make it all work...

[luvs2sing]

8. What a thrill!

I’ll admit to tearing up several times. And I’ll probably spend the rest of the day saying, “Go, Webb” in a deep French accent.

It took me back to being a child, watching the Apollo launches, and wanting to be one of those people working in the control room.

[SheltieLover]

11. What an engineering marvel!

WOW! to scientists, once again!

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

12. Fantastic!

I hope all goes well from here on out as well.

[PirateRo]

13. Wonderful achievement by NASA and Arianspace! Truly abhorrent and unacceptable comment from Nelson

A tremendous achievement by the very fine folk at NASA! Spectacular launch by arianespace!

Go Webb!

Clearly unacceptable comments from Bill Nelson, obviously injecting a particular grotesque religion into an area in which it has absolutely no place. As the administrator of a large, diverse group, his hateful comments insulted many people who do not share his bullshit magical jesasss crap.

His actions demean their contribution. He should have given much more thought to the vomit he insisted we all share.

[niyad]

17. I cannot get the video working. What did the asshole say? And how did a bible thumper

become head of NASA??

[PirateRo]

21. Here you go

This was after the launch success, when the leadership gave their speeches.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=7222&v=7nT7JGZMbtM&feature=youtu.be

I would have rather him read the ingredients off the back of detergent bottles than this. It starts ok...he mentions the US government being grateful, but somehow not the people of the YS...? And then, it falls off the rails talking about shepards and kings.

Wothrless.

[niyad]

22. Thank you for the link. That was bizarre.

[PirateRo]

23. Welkies :) stay safe out there!

[burrowowl]

25. Another good link to track where it is at

jwst.nasa.gov

[electric_blue68]

26. TY👍 Look at bottom of screen for "Where is Web" very neat monitoring

[JohnnyRingo]

14. Thank goodness!

I wondered what the news would be when I woke up.
Now if I can hang in there another 6 months...

[edhopper]

15. $13 billion?!

Don't they know there are Rich people without tax cuts on Christmas?
Come on people, there are walls to build and wars to fight.

[MuseRider]

16. Amazing!

Last edited Sat Dec 25, 2021, 01:10 PM - Edit history (1)

EDIT:

An amazing accomplishment but the naming and the fact that someone with those beliefs who cannot be stopped from speaking them to the world disgust me.

[NullTuples]

18. I'll be honest, every time I read the name it feels like NASA saying, "F-you, LGBTQ Americans"

I'm excited about the science potential and the complexity and the tech involved.

But ample documentation has been brought to light that shows James Webb was very much involved with purging LGBT people from the State Department where he was undersecretary, and then at NASA where he was administrator that the name never should have been allowed to go forward. The NASA "investigation" felt to many of us a whole lot like when the FBI "investigated" Brett Kavanaugh.

[GB_RN]

19. Wrong James Webb

You’re thinking of the guy who used to work under Reagan and later, changed parties to become a Democratic Senator from VA. The telescope isn’t named after him. It’s named after another guy of the same name.

From the JWST Wikipedia page:

The concept that would become JWST originated in 1996, as a proposal named Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST). In 2002, after further development of the design, it was renamed after NASA's second administrator (1961–1968) James E. Webb (1906–1992).

[whopis01]

20. No - you are the one with the wrong James Webb

The person that the telescope is named after (James Edwin Webb) is the one who pushed to remove LGBT people from NASA and other parts of the government. He issued memos discussing “the problem of homosexuals and sex perverts” among other things.

Efforts to rename it were shot down.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02010-x

[GB_RN]

29. Sorry...

I wasn’t aware of NASA Administrator J.E.Webb’s homophobic background. I just knew that’s who the telescope was named after. Former Democratic Senator and Regan’s Navy undersecretary, Jim Webb, had some homophobic views (IIRC), and I assumed that’s who you were referring to with those comments.

I appreciate the education on the background of the former NASA administrator.

[NullTuples]

28. No, I have the right one. State dept in the 50's then NASA in the 60's.

Webb didn’t just work at the State Department, he was undersecretary of the State Department during the LGBT purge in the 1950’s, and was directly involved as shown here: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/54538192

Likewise, he was the head of NASA during a rather famous case in the late 1960's of NASA budget analyst Clifford Norton being fired for being gay that went all the way up to the D.C. Circuit Court. As head of the agency, media coverage and PR were ultimately one of his primary responsibilities and it’s inconceivable that he would not have been in some way involved in the handling of such a high profile case.

I’d love to get more excited about such an amazing piece of tech, but I avoid it due to the name. There’s just too much extremist anti-LGBT sentiment these days and I find I have to avoid it when I can. Seeing his name mentioned repeatedly reminds me that NASA didn’t really dig deep at all when they refused to change the name & it feels like an intentional microaggression to everyone who is LGBTQ.

[GB_RN]

30. See My Response Above (#29)

With apologies…

[NullTuples]

31. Thank you.

[GB_RN]

32. Absolutely

I try to admit my mistakes and when I'm wrong...as well as thank someone for giving me an opportunity to learn something. And this situation afforded me both. 🥴

[llashram]

24. I am disgusted

he'll be in church today and tomorrow praising...what and whomever he believes in. No better than a Pharisee of those times of which he spoke. I have faith but I do not believe this clown in the privacy of his thoughts truly has love in his heart for all humankind. Christians have proven time after time that they hate all not like themselves. Especially in this country of my experience. Yesteryear to today. He should have just not said a word.

[PatrickforB]

27. You know what would ACTUALLY be a great day for planet earth?

Implementation of a sweeping global warming agenda, implementation of healthcare and dental care for all, and far less money spent on wars.