After a long time of ready, the Webb Space Telescope is lastly able to blast off. You can watch this historic launch stay proper right here.

For years now I’ve needed to check with the “upcoming” James Webb Space Telescope and make guarantees about how this $10 billion observatory, a joint challenge of NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), will some day essentially alter our view of the cosmos. For me, the expertise of penning this “how to watch” submit is nothing wanting surreal, and I can scarcely imagine it’s occurring. But it’s true—the ready seems to lastly be over, as Webb is packed atop a rocket and gazing upwards into the heavens.

The area telescope is scheduled to launch at 7:20 a.m. EST (4:20 a.m. PST) on Christmas morning from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. An Ariane 5 rocket will carry out the heavy lifting, blasting off from launch complicated ELA-3. The 32-minute launch window for the day will finish at 7:52 a.m. EST (4:52 a.m. PST).

NASA TV will present a rocket fueling replace at 3:00 a.m. EST (12:00 a.m. PST), however the true present begins at 6:00 a.m. EST (3:00 a.m. PST). Live feeds of the launch might be made out there at NASA TV, YouTube, and on ESA WEB TV ONE. Or you’ll be able to keep proper right here and catch the motion on the feed offered beneath.

ESA may even be broadcasting in French and Spanish. A gradual stream of updates will seem on Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch, so so long as you will have an web connection try to be high-quality. NASA’s post-launch press convention is scheduled to start out at 9:00 a.m. EST (6:00 a.m. PST), additionally on NASA TV.

The launch might be thrilling—and utterly nerve wracking—however so too would be the first hour of the mission. Webb might want to deploy its photo voltaic panels and carry out a course correction maneuver, because the spacecraft begins its one-month journey to the second Lagrange level (a gravitationally steady spot some 1 million miles from Earth). The subsequent steps will contain a complicated collection of deployments and calibrations, with Webb anticipated to enter into the science section of its mission in round six months.

Webb is the most important and strongest area telescope ever constructed. The infrared observatory was presupposed to launch in 2007, however technical and budgetary hurdles, amongst different points, resulted within the delay. Astronomers will use the telescope to watch the universe’s earliest galaxies, examine the birthplaces of stars and planets, and scan the atmospheres of distant worlds. The mission is meant to final for no less than 5 years, however the objective is to maintain Webb going for 10 years.

More: Here’s what might nonetheless go incorrect with the Webb Space Telescope.