Smarter Every Day author Destin interviewed his dad in 2016 who was working on the sunshield layers that were eventually placed on the James Webb Space Telescope. His dad worked as a metrologist who specialized in using sophisticated tools to accurately measure dimensions of products. In this video, several people explain the complex procedures used to measure the sunshield layers and how the data was fit to models and applied to the L2 point in space. It is a fascinating look behind the scenes at an essential part of the JWST. There is one ad break at the 15 minute time.
JWST | Alignment Progress
The JWST team successfully completed the third phase of mirror alignment by tilting each of the 18 segments to produce one image. This set of stacked images will further be refined by adjusting the heights of the segments to within one wavelength of light. This step is called Coarse Phasing. Details of the recently completed processes are here in their blog.
JWST Sees 18 Star Images
Good news reported from the James Webb Space Telescope. The team pointed at a star and got 18 images, one from each of the 18 mirror segments. Here is the blog post with images and a video from NASA.
In addition, I’ve included today’s audio teleconference with discussion of more details and some Q&A from the press.
Feline Space Mission
More than 600 humans have been to space according to various sources. What counts as going to space? There are two definitions of spaceflight.
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), an international record-keeping body, defines the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space at 100 kilometres (62 mi) above sea level. This boundary is known as the Kármán line. Additionally, the United States awards astronaut wings to qualified personnel who pilot a spaceflight above an altitude of 50 miles (80 km).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_spaceflights
What about animals other than humans? The list is long. The first animals in space were fruit flies in 1947. They were launched from White Sands, NM, aboard a captured German V-2 rocket. They went up to 109 km (68 mi) and were returned alive.
Cats, on the other hand, have not been well-represented in space. The only cat launched to space and returned alive was from France in October 1963. Her name was Félicette. It was a 15 minute flight which returned her safely to Earth in the capsule by parachute. Electrodes were planted in her brain in order to monitor her responses to the flight. Two months after the flight she was euthanized in order to perform an autopsy. A second cat was launched six days after the launch of Félicette. That flight had trouble which prevented recovery of the capsule.
JWST Mirrors
The 18 mirror segments of the James Webb Space Telescope are currently being slowly moved from their safely stowed positions at launch to their fully deployed positions. They move about a millimeter per day. You can watch the progress here.
If you are interested in delving into the history and development of these mirrors, NASA has a lengthy and very complete web site explaining with text, diagrams, and short videos. I found it well-worth reading. Follow this link.
How I See It 