CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - NASA has aced the most complicated, critical job on its newly launched space telescope: unrolling and stretching a sunshade the size of a tennis court.
Flight controllers in Maryland cheered and bumped fists Tuesday once the fifth and final layer of the ultra-thin sunshield was pulled tight.
The mirrors are next up for release this weekend.
The $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is more than halfway toward its destination 1 million miles from Earth, following its Christmas Day send-off.
It's the biggest and most powerful observatory ever launched and is considered the successor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope.
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