James Webb Space Telescope poised for final tests at NASA Goddard before long journey to space

[Judi Lynn]

By Scott Dance•Contact Reporter
The Baltimore Sun
November 2, 2016, 7:21 PM |GREENBELT

Twenty years ago, scientists laid out a wish list for a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, envisioning a device that could deepen knowledge of the origins of the universe.

Today, an instrument befitting that description is poised for its final tests at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

The heart of the James Webb Space Telescope — a 22-foot-tall golden mirror attached to a set of four cameras and spectrographs — has been assembled inside a massive clean room on the Goddard campus.

Over the next four months, engineers will expose it to noise and violent vibrations — like those it will likely experience during a launch that's less than two years away.

More:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/go-for-launch/

Images of the James Webb Space Telescope:

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1538&bih=806&q=James+Webb+Space+Telescope&oq=James+Webb+Space+Telescope&gs_l=img.12..0l10.198.198.0.1885.1.1.0.0.0.0.312.312.3-1.1.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.1.311.fx8bPvEfwjs

[Travis_0004]

1. Its amazing to think that it takes 2 years of testing

But its good to be sure. Unlike the Hubble telescope, this is not designed to be serviced by man or robots (although there is a docking ring, so I suppose very very limited fixes can be done.

[longship]

2. It is going to be at a Lagrangian point.

A million km from Earth. So there will be no service missions. NONE!

Humans cannot even get out of low Earth orbit right now. And there are no launch vehicles even close to being human rated other than Soyuz, and that only for low Earth orbit.

Sadly, Apollo/Saturn is long dead, which was human's last chance. But the Saturn V was one helluva great spacecraft!

Here, Apollo 11:

Another perspective:

BTW, the Saturn V was over 36 fucking stories tall!

Here, in HiDef (big file):

[Travis_0004]

4. They added a docking station a few years ago

It was not originally planned, so there had to be some reason to add it

[nitpicker]

3. Link to BBC

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37861015