"The James Webb Space Telescope team is working on a communication problem between the observatory and the launch vehicle system," NASA officials explained in a statement on Tuesday (Dec. 14). “This will delay the launch date to no earlier than Friday, December 24th. We will provide more information on the new launch date no later than Friday, December 17 ”.
Kepler Space Telescope. Credits: NASA
The James Webb Space Telescope will travel into space on an Ariane 5 rocket supplied by the European launch company Arianespace. Engineers at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana just stacked the new space telescope on top of its Ariane 5 rocket on Saturday (December 11).
The delay is just the latest in a series of delays underway that plagued the Webb telescope, which was originally scheduled to launch in 2007. The most recent delay was announced just three weeks ago when NASA reported a problem with a clamp on the launch vehicle's adapter. >