nasa will now begin to latch the wing into place. the observatory is on a mission to study the very first stars to shine in the universe. many of its components had to be folded to fit inside the launch rocket. 0nce unfurled, the golden primary mirror, the largest astronomical reflector ever sent into space, will allow the telescope to be properly focused. its great size will enable scientists to see the faintest objects from the farthest reaches of the cosmos. katherine mack, a theoretical cosmologist and assistant professor at north carolina state university, told me that what nasa has achieved is unprecedented. yeah, this whole mission has had us all at the edge of our seats. it's such a complicated mission in terms of — itjust has so many parts. as you mentioned, this telescope had to be folded up to fit into the rocket and so, that means that once it was launched, all of these parts had to be unfurled and it all had to all go perfectly right in orderfor this telescope, which has been 20 years in development, to be functional.