
NASA delays James Webb Space Telescope launch after processing "incident"
CBSN
The long-awaited launch of the nearly $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is slipping at least four days, from December 18 to no earlier than December 22, after an incident during processing in French Guiana that briefly jostled the costly observatory.
The European consortium Arianespace is readying the infrared telescope for launch atop an Ariane 5 rocket in partnership with the European Space Agency and NASA, saving the U.S. agency to cost of boosting the observatory into space.
The incident occurred in a processing facility at the Ariane 5 launch site in Kourou, French Guiana. A high-tension "clamp band," used to attach the telescope to an adapter that will, in turn, be mounted atop the rocket's upper stage, suddenly released on its own, briefly shaking the observatory.