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The James Webb Space Telescope is comprised of some very large structures, and those have to fit together before, during, and after launch. Extreme care has to be taken when moving equipment that weighs thousands of pounds. This episode of Behind the Webb gives us a glimpse into what it takes to test the compatibility between the backplane that will hold the primary mirror segments, the sunshield, and the spacecraft bus. We also see how the sunshield will be pulled into position, giving us a sense of how large the observatory will be when it’s in orbit.

The 21-foot-wide primary mirror of the Webb Telescope is so large that it will have to fold up to fit into a rocket and be launched to space. Join host Mary Estacion as she travels to ATK in Magna, Utah, where the mirror’s foldable backplane “wings” have been constructed.

“Behind the Webb” is an ongoing series that follows the construction of the Webb Space Telescope, Hubble’s successor. Find more episodes at Hubblesite.org.

“Behind the Webb” archive:
http://webbtelescope.org/webb_telescope/behind_the_webb/archive/