WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th December, 2021) US President Joe Biden has congratulated everyone who has worked on the James Webb Space Telescope with its successful launch.
"Congratulations @NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and all who made today's launch of the James Webb telescope possible. Webb is a shining example of the power of what we can accomplish when we dream big," Biden said on Twitter on Saturday.
He added that the James Webb telescope project is "a risky endeavor" but "with big risk comes big rewards."
The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, has also offered its congratulations following the launch.
"Apparently, 2021 has become a breakthrough year for many projects that could not be launched in recent years. Now the (Webb) telescope just needs to successfully reach the L2 (destination) point. And there it will be met by our Russian observatory 'Spektr-RG'," Dmitry Strugovets, the head of the Roscosmos press service, said on Facebook.
The Ariane 5 rocket carrying the cutting-edge James Webb telescope took off on Saturday from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.
The largest and most powerful space telescope ever launched, Webb will replace the famous Hubble telescope. It is currently over 67,800 miles (109,110 kilometers) away from Earth and is on its way to its observing spot, Lagrange point 2 (L2), which is located nearly 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from our home planet.
It will take Webb about one month to reach L2 and it is expected to start taking images of the universe in about six months.
