By NASA
December 31, 2021
Sunshield Membrane Cover Releases (4) roll to holding place. Credit: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
Webbs engineers have launched and rolled up the sunshield covers that safeguarded the thin layers of Webbs sunshield during launch. After the team electrically triggered release devices to release the covers, they carried out commands to roll the covers up into a holding position, exposing Webbs sunshield membranes to area for the very first time.
The implementation, which took about an hour, concluded at roughly 12:27 p.m. EST on December 30, 2021.
In their next phases of planned activities, engineers will release the sunshield mid-booms, prior to proceeding with sunshield tensioning. The steps in this process, managed by people at Webbs Mission Operations Center, might change.
