This mission is scheduled to lift off at 7:20 a.m. EST (12:20 UTC), Dec. 25, 2021, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
This might be one of the last good things america ever does
edit: lmao some NASA administrator guy named Bill Nelson with Adrenochrome face just did a religious screed quoting bible verses and shit on the stream
Thank fuck it didn't blow up. Genuinely excited to see what JWST can see.
I'm excited, but part of me also wishes that it hit a SpaceX satellite. We could have had a nerd civil war.
Finishing all my amateur radio transmissions with "Furthurmore, SpaceX must be destroyed" until the end of time.
Wow, this rocket seemed to have a much higher thrust to mass ratio than most launches I've seen. Like as soon as the engines ignited it was like "zoop, see ya!"
That was also really impressive. I'm used to being confused for like 15 seconds about whether I'm watching it launch or malfunction.
LETS FUCKING GO :lets-fucking-go:
I woke up early for this
There she goes on her way - pics from the upper stage camera:
https://i.imgur.com/3G3ix7D.png - sick pic
https://i.imgur.com/XO8Cx2U.png - solar panels unfurling
https://i.imgur.com/toMqUo0.png - catching the sun's rays ☀️ 😎
Alright, the telescope is on its own now. The next couple weeks are the real suspenseful part.
The animation they use to visualize the rocket's flight looks a lot like KSP with a bunch of realism mods
I was waiting for the camera to do that weird sideways jerk once the Perigee rose to 100 KM.
That has caught me off guard so many times causing me to either over/under cook my circularization burn. Now I always make sure to set the camera to free before launching.
Kind of disappointed there wasn't one final literally last second delay, would have been perfect given the history of this telescope. I'll settle for a successful launch instead, though!
I'm surprised it could launch with so many clouds. It seems like most have great atmospheric conditions and those were low enough to be storm clouds.
Merry Christmas to all space fans! This thing has been in development longer than Cyberpunk!
also need an eastern coast or vast unpopulated area to the east, europe has neither
