Cosmic Origins

To observe the birth of the earliest galaxies, the formation of stars and their planetary systems in the Milky Way and other galaxies, and the origins of the elements necessary for life. Cosmic Origins tells the story of the processes that transpired from the Big Bang to the modern Universe. "How did we get here?"

A-Z	Launch Date	Phase
JWST James Webb Space Telescope (formerly the Next Generation Space Telescope) is designed for observations in the far visible to the mid infrared part of the spectrum. JWST will...	20140601 20:00:00 USEastern June 01, 2014	Development
Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Space Telescope (HST), an ultraviolet, visible and infrared orbiting telescope, has expanded our understanding of star birth, star death, and galaxy evolution, and has...	19900425 April 24, 1990	Operating
Spitzer Spitzer Space Telescope (formerly known as SIRTF) conducts infrared astronomy from space. From an unusual heliocentric orbit designed to keep its sensitive instruments away...	20030826 August 25, 2003	Operating
Herschel The Herschel Space Observatory is a space-based telescope that will study the Universe by the light of the far-infrared and submillimeter portions of the spectrum. It is...	20090514 19:00:00 USEastern May 14, 2009	Operating
SOFIA SOFIA is an airborne observatory that will study the universe in the infrared spectrum. This mission is part of SMD's Cosmic Origins...	20100330 20:00:00 USEastern TBD	Development

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Cosmic Origins