Launch date December 22, 2021 The revolutionary James Webb space telescope observatory will be the largest telescope built for space and the most powerful infrared telescope ever made. It is the scientific successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The Webb telescope will travel 1 million miles from earth and look back over 13.5 billion years, providing images of the first galaxies formed and observing unexplored planets around distant stars. The breakthrough technology developed for the Webb Telescope will expand our understanding of the universe, rewrite textbooks and inspire a future generation of engineers and scientists.