During the first two weeks after launch the folded observatory was transformed into its operating configuration.
The sunshield pallets, the deployable tower, the mid-booms and the five membrane layers were deployed over eight days, and tensioning of the final layer was completed on 4 January 2022 [4]. The team briefly paused operations to optimise the power system and tensioning motors before the layers were tensioned [4].
The secondary mirror support structure and the two side wings of the primary mirror were then deployed; on 8 January 2022 the observatory was fully deployed [3]. On 24 January 2022 a burn of nearly five minutes inserted Webb into its orbit around L2 [5].
NASA Science: Webb FAQs · NASA Science: NASA's Webb Telescope Launches to See First Galaxies, Distant Worlds (25 Dec 2021) · K. A. Parrish, C. Starr (NASA GSFC): Launching and Deploying the James Webb Space Telescope, IAC-22-B6.3.1 (NASA NTRS 20220013198) — full list on James Webb Space Telescope