To Take Baby Pictures of the Universe, Click Here

A model of the James Webb Space Telescope, on display at Battery Park; the actual telescope will allow us to see much closer to the beginning of time.
By JIM DWYER
Published: June 1, 2010
Here was a model for the next great time machine, just over John Grunsfeld’s shoulder in a field in Battery Park: a giant telescope that will be launched in 2014 and sent one million miles from Earth. By looking deep into space, it will collect light and images that have been traveling since nearly the beginning of the universe, and send them back here.

Dr. Grunsfeld, trim and compact at 51, has floated in space for hours at a time, miles above the Earth, fixing the Hubble Space Telescope.

At one time, the mirrors on the Hubble were not working properly, and it was thought to be the world’s highest and most expensive lemon.

Instead, when Dr. Grunsfeld and his colleagues finished their repairs, it was able to take pictures from billions of years ago. Scientific theories about the dawn of the universe and early galaxies had to give way to actual data from the Hubble.

Its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, will be 80 feet long, 37 feet wide and 40 feet high. The designers say it will be powerful enough to reveal the details on a penny at a distance of 24 miles.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/nyregion/02about.html?ref=science