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After its arrival at Pariacabo harbour in French Guiana on 12 October 2021<\/a>, the James Webb Space Telescope<\/a> was transported to Europe\u2019s Spaceport and unboxed in the cleanroom. It is now being prepared for its launch on an Ariane 5<\/a> rocket in December.\u00a0<\/p>\n Though the telescope weighs only six tonnes, it is more than 10.5 m high and almost 4.5 m wide when folded. It was shipped in its folded position in a 30 m long container which, with auxiliary equipment, weighed more than 70 tonnes.<\/p>\n After arriving in the harbour, the telescope inside its container was towed by a heavy-load tractor unit to the spacecraft processing facility at Europe\u2019s Spaceport.<\/p>\n There, Webb\u2019s special shipping container was opened, and the telescope was unboxed inside the facility\u2019s cleanroom and installed on a rollover fixture to raise it vertical. This is how it will stand inside the Ariane 5 fairing.<\/p>\n Webb\u2019s launch campaign involves more than 100 specialists. Teams will work separately to prepare the telescope and the launch vehicle until they become one combined team to join the telescope with its rocket for a momentous liftoff.<\/p>\n Webb<\/a> will be the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. As part of an international collaboration agreement, ESA is providing the telescope\u2019s launch service using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission<\/a> and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace.<\/p>\n Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).<\/p>\n Find out more about Webb in ESA\u2019s launch kit<\/a>.<\/p>\n