It was the most perfect Christmas present NASA could have asked for.

Agency’s James Webb Space TelescopeSaturday’s successful launch of the, the largest and strongest telescope ever built, saw it reach orbit. This launch marks the start of Webb’s long-awaited mission. more than 30 years of development and countless delays.

It is being billed by the Hubble Space Telescope as the next-generation observatory. The telescope will be $10 billion in size and will focus on the very early stages of the universe. This observational facility was built to examine the 100 million year period after the Big Bang.

At 7:20 AM, the observatory of tennis court size was launched from atop an Ariane 5 Rocket. ET, from Kourou’s European Spaceport. French Guiana. Liftoff of the observatory had been delayed multiple times. including earlier this month to investigate a faulty data cable and more recently because of bad weather at the South American launch site.

The telescope is now in space and begins the long, difficult journey of a month to reach its orbit around the sun. It will be more than one million miles from Earth. 

Webb will be traveling to its destination and key components of the observatory which were folded to make it fit in the rocket’s interior, must now unfurl as Webb makes its way to the final destination. The most thrilling stunts for Webb will occur approximately five days after launch. This is when its huge, multilayered sunshield opens and the primary mirror’s massive gold-coated lens unfolds. 

NASA gave the sequence the nickname “29 Days on the Edge” because of its risky and meticulously choreographed moves.

Greg Robinson, NASA’s Webb telescope program director, stated to NBC News that there are approximately 50 deployments left after launch. “Those first two- or three weeks of deployments will be what some would consider good anxiety.”

Webb telescope’s primary reflector measures over 21 feet, making it the longest spacecraft. Webb can see objects in the sky that are previously unknown because of its size. It dwarfs Hubble’s. 

The fainter something looks, the farther it is. Marcia Rieke of the University of Arizona, principal investigator of Webb’s fourth main instrument, said that the bigger the mirror the more fainter something you can see. Another thing that matters is the size of the mirror determines how finely you can see detail.

Because it takes light time to travel through the universe, telescopes are essentially time machines. Webb, therefore, is studying light from faraway galaxies to see how it used to be billions of year ago.

Webb is an optical telescope that “sees” outside the scope of human eyes and telescopes which only see visible light. Webb’s Infrared Vision can see through the thick veil of cosmic dust and gas, which allows it to view celestial objects normally invisible to other observatories.

Webb’s instrument are sensitive enough to pick out exoplanet atmospheres. This allows Webb to analyze their chemical compositions to assess whether or not they might support life from aliens. 

“It’s conceivable that we could find an exoplanet whose atmosphere’s composition — that collection of molecules — is very similar to Earth’s atmosphere,” Rieke said. If we were able to do this, it would be incredible.

Webb won’t be able to begin taking photographs or science from the cosmos until after a six-month period of commissioning. The telescope must then calibrate and evaluate its components.

Mission controllers can finally let out a collective sigh of relief if all goes well.

Daniel Neuenschwander is the director of European Space Agency’s space transportation, and one of NASA’s international partners in the Webb telescope.

Robinson stated that Webb will then be able to discover what Webb might have missed.

He stated, “I’m curious what’s out here.” Where did we all come from?” Is this our role in the universe?” These are things I am eager to learn.”