Wonderful news - Webb Telescope

Looks like a flawless launch.  From the London Daily Mail:

'Go Webb, go!': Scientists cheer as Nasa's $10billion James Webb Space Telescope module detaches from rocket and begins one million mile journey into space in bid to break the secrets of Universe's first moments 13.5bn years ago

• • NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has lifted off from European Space Agency's base in French Guiana
  • The $10 billion telescope had already faced months of delays because of the country's rainy season
  • Launch date was set for Christmas Day at 7:20AM ET (12:20 GMT) at European Space Agency's Spaceport
  • Detachment of telescope from the main rocket module minutes after lift-off described as 'the most complex sequence of deployments ever attempted in a single space mission'
  • The space observatory will be in a solar orbit, a million miles away, to give widest ever spectrum view
  • Means that, unlike predecessor Hubble Space Telescope which is 340 miles from the Earth, it can't be serviced if something goes wrong with the observatory

NASA's revolutionary James Webb Space Telescope has begun its one million mile voyage into solar orbit after successful lift off following decades of planning and delays.

Jubilant scientists and engineers shouted 'Go Webb, go!' as the telescope module detached from its rocket and floated off into space far above the earth's surface.

It is hoped that the observatory, a replacement for the 30-year-old Hubble telescope, will by travelling so far out be able to peer back in time 13.5bn years – to a point within a mere 100m years of the big bang.

A successful Christmas Day take off for the $10 billion telescope had been dubbed a 'Christmas miracle' after the project suffered a series of delays in the South American country's rainy season.

But at 7.20am ET (12.20PM GMT) the world's most powerful space telescope, equipped with an Ariane 5 rocket, took off from the European Spaceport facility in French Guiana in magnificent form before blasting skywards over the Atlantic Ocean.

Looks like I got my Christmas present... Was hoping for a sucessful launch.  The Ariane 5 does have a really good track record.