Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Engineer conducts an inspection on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
Engineer conducts an inspection on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in the clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. (Credit: Chris Gunn / NASA)

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is an observatory that uses infrared light to capture images of the way the universe looked approximately 200 million years after the big bang. Currently, the James Webb Space Telescope is the largest telescope orbiting in space with 18 mirror segments and totaling approximately 6,200 kg in mass.

The telescope was assembled for the first time and tested at Goddard Space Flight Center. Contributions on microshutters, cryogenic testing and structural components are just a few of the many critical ways engineers in the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Engineering and Technology Directorate ensured the successful launch of the historic optical instrument.

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