deploys

Astra aces return-to-flight mission, deploys satellites for 1st time

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Astra bounced back from last month’s launch failure with a groundbreaking success, deploying satellites in Earth orbit for the first time ever. The California company’s two-stage Launch Vehicle 0009 (LV0009) lifted off from the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Alaska’s Kodiak Island today (March 15) at 12:22 p.m. EDT (1622 GMT; 8:22 a.m. local time on … Read more

James Webb Space Telescope deploys radiator to keep cool

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NASA’s new high-tech, low-temp observatory observatory is one step closer to gathering some cool science. The James Webb Space Telescope launched on Dec. 25 and has spent its time in space so far executing a complicated sequence of deployments to unfold the telescope to its final configuration. On Thursday (Jan. 6), the mission team notched … Read more

NASA’s New Flagship Telescope Fully Deploys Sunshield in Critical Mission Milestone

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The James Webb Space Telescope fully deployed its tennis-court sized sunshield Tuesday, a critical milestone for the success of its mission to study every phase of cosmic history, NASA said.   “All five layers of the sunshield are fully tensioned,” said an announcer at the observatory’s control center in Baltimore, where team members cheered, a … Read more

James Webb Space Telescope successfully deploys antenna

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NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope successfully deployed a critical antenna Sunday (Dec. 26)  just one day after its Christmas launch into space. The space telescope unfolded what scientists call a gimbaled antenna assembly that carries the high-rate data dish responsible for beaming Webb’s observations of the early universe back to Earth. Webb launched into … Read more