NASA nails trickiest job on newly launched space telescope

By MARCIA DUNN
AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA has aced the most complicated, critical job on its newly launched space telescope: unrolling and stretching a sunshade the size of a tennis court. Flight controllers in Maryland cheered and bumped fists Tuesday once the fifth and final layer of the ultra-thin sunshield was pulled tight. The mirrors are next up for release this weekend. The $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is more than halfway toward its destination 1 million miles from Earth, following its Christmas Day send-off. It’s the biggest and most powerful observatory ever launched and is considered the successor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope.