James Webb Space Telescope launch live blog: all the latest updates

Today is launch day for the James Webb Space Telescope aboard Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket, and we're covering all the latest updates as the mission counts down to its anticipated 7:20AM EST lift off.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the next generation observation platform and the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. Built to detect deep into the infrared spectrum, the James Webb Space Telescope will be able to see deep into the history of the universe. 

The oldest galaxies and stars from the very beginning of the universe can only be seen in this deep infrared space, so there's no telling what we'll see once Webb is online and operational.

After its successful launch, it will take 29 days for Webb to fully deploy at the second Lagrange point relative to Earth and the Sun, known as L2, a location about 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away from us. 

Here, the larger universe will be far more visible to Webb than if it was located in low Earth Orbit like the Hubble Space Telescope, but it is also a far more complex deployment than Hubble was.

Essentially, if something physically goes wrong during the deployment, there's no way to recover and the $10 billion dollar instrument will be effectively useless. The 29 days until Webb completes its maneuvers and deploys at L2 will be some of the most intense and stressful time in recent memory for NASA, possibly since we first sent astronauts to the Moon in 1969.

And it all begins in just a few hours, and we'll be here to keep you updated on the entire launch and deployment as it happens.

Welcome to TechRadar's James Webb Space Telescope launch live blog! This is John, TechRadar's resident science geek, and I obviously can't tell you how excited we all are for this launch.

It truly is a historic moment for NASA, as this is absolutely one of the most complex space missions it has ever undertaken. There are nearly 350 single points of failure where the entire mission can collapse and we essentially have a $10 billion derelict flying off into space after nearly two decades of work.

Needless to say, these next 29 days are going to be the proverbial month from hell, and I know I for one will be following Webb's progress for the next four weeks and keeping you all updated as we go.

Merry Christmas to one and all, by the way!

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