James Webb Space Telescope

Ever since NASA launched the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 spacecraft in December 1968, the scientific world has gazed out into the depths of the universe through many a generation of space telescope. For decades, two observatories have provided the most prolific and in-depth imagery of space: the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes.

Since its launch in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has become an integral part of NASA’s – and, by extension, the wider scientific community’s – understanding of the cosmos, and in conjunction with the infrared capabilities of Spitzer, launched in 2003, our views