Watch the Launch

Additional Media

James Webb Space Telescope Launch — Official NASA Broadcast

Watch the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope—the most powerful space telescope ever made. This mission launched at 7:20 a.m. EST (12:20 UTC), Dec. 25, 2021, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe...

Flight VA256 – James Webb Space Telescope | Ariane 5 Launch | Arianespace

Summary: 00:00:00 Start of the livestream 00:03:21 Launch status update 00:05:23 Good Luck Webb 00:06:04 Launcher’s roll-out 00:07:02 JWST basic facts 00:11:12 JWST science goals 00:17:44 JWST challen...

James Webb Space Telescope

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), developed in partnership with ESA and CSA, is operated by AURA's Space Telescope Science Institute.

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Sun-Earth L2
Mission: Astrophysics

Sun-Earth L2 Ariane Launch Area 3 Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

The James Webb Space Telescope is a space telescope developed by NASA, ESA and CSA to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA's flagship astrophysics mission. Its primary mirror, the Optical Telescope Element, is composed of 18 hexagonal mirror segments which combine to create a 6.5 m diameter mirror, considerably larger than Hubble's 2.4 m mirror. This will allow JWST to provide improved infrared resolution and sensitivity over Hubble, and will enable a broad range of investigations across the fields of astronomy and cosmology, including observing some of the most distant events and objects in the universe, such as the formation of the first galaxies.

Updates

SwGustav • Dec. 25, 2021, 12:58 p.m.

Successful launch confirmed


SwGustav • Dec. 21, 2021, 9:37 p.m.

Delaying by 24 hours due to adverse weather forecast


Jay • Dec. 17, 2021, 10:18 p.m.

Go for launch.


Cosmic_Penguin • Dec. 15, 2021, 12:25 a.m.

New NET date.


Cosmic_Penguin • Nov. 25, 2021, 12:56 a.m.

New launch date confirmed after additional spacecraft testing.


Ariane 5 ECA+

Family:
Configuration: ECA+

Ariane 5 ECA+ is a variant of the Ariane 5 heavy-lift vehicle, with a taller ECA-D upper stage.

Specifications
  • Max Stage
    2
  • Length
    57.7 m
  • Diameter
    5.4 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    5.4 m
  • Launch Mass
    780.0 T
  • Thrust
    11400.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Ariane 5 ECA+
  • Family
  • Variant
    ECA+
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Ariane 5 ECA+
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    10200.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

ArianeGroup

ArianeGroup

(AG)

CEO: Christophe Bruneau Founded: 2015 Successes: 0 Failures: 0 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

ArianeGroup (formerly Airbus Safran Launchers) is an aerospace company based in France. A joint venture between Airbus and Safran, the company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux. It consists of three core arms: aerospace, defence and security.

INFO WIKI

Related News

NASA

Stages of Star Formation

This image, captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and released on June 5, 2026, shows just a small portion of one of the Orion Molecular Clouds, a long and massive filament of cold gas and dust beyond the Orion Nebula. Every stage …

NASA

NASA Webb, Hubble Reveal History of Relic of Milky Way’s Formation

Researchers using two of humanity’s most powerful observatories — NASA’s James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes — have definitively shown that Terzan 5 is not a globular star cluster as it was once classified, offering new insight into how…

ESA

Webb & Hubble reveal relic of our galaxy’s formation

Researchers have confirmed a new class of objects within our Milky Way galaxy: survivors called 'bulge fossil fragments.' Terzan 5 is the prototype of these remnants of our galaxy's early formation. Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space …

NASA

NASA’s Webb Catches Exoplanet Getting Roasted

One well-done gas giant, coming right up! That’s the latest from researchers analyzing NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s observations of HD 80606 b, an exoplanet four times the mass of Jupiter with an extremely elliptical orbit that swee…

NASA

Black Eye Galaxy

This March 20, 2026, image of Messier 64, or the Black Eye Galaxy, is a composite view from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope. It shows Messier 64 captured at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths by Webb, while Hub…

Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Ariane Launch Area 3


Falcon 9
Success
10 hours, 44 minutes ago
NROL-179
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Fourteenth batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Offi…


Ariane 64
Success
2 days, 7 hours ago
Amazon Leo (LE-03)
Ariane Launch Area 4 - Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access, thi…


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 12 hours ago
BlueBird Block 2 #3-5
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, requi…


Kuaizhou 11
Success
2 days, 15 hours ago
CentiSpace-1 Group 05
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Note: Unofficial reports indicate there may be 1 or more additional satellites that failed to separate from the upper stage, however this is not offi…


Long March 12
Success
2 days, 16 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 22
Commercial LC-2 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Long March 3B/E
Success
3 days, 9 hours ago
Shijian 31
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Classified experimental Chinese satellite of unknown purposes (officially described for "spatial environment detection" purposes).


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 4 hours ago
Starlink Group 17-54
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Kinetica 1
Success
4 days, 15 hours ago
8 x Jilin-1
Launch Area 130 - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

8 Earth observation satellites for the Jilin-1 commercial Earth observation satellites constellation: * High Resolution-04D 01-02 * High Resoluti…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
Starlink Group 10-54
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


H3-30
Success
1 week ago
H3-30 Test Flight
Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-2 - Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

Test flight of the H3-30 variant of the H3 launch vehicle with 3 LE-9 engines in the first stage and no SRBs. The flight will carry a dummy main payl…