Webb Space Telescope Wraps Up Risky Deployment but Faces More Hurdles

After decades of development and two weeks after it launched into space aboard a towering rocket, the James Webb Space Telescope has completed its intricate unfolding process and is now fully deployed.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration declared the deployment complete at 1:17 p.m. ET Saturday after the starboard right wing of the $10 billion space observatory’s 21.5-foot primary mirror latched into place. The announcement, which brought rousing applause in the mission operations center in Baltimore, marked the completion of the final procedure in a process that involved 50 major steps and 178 separate release mechanisms.