Published on March 13, 2017
Webb Telescope’s Backplane arrived at Joint Base Andrews on Monday, August 24, 2015 aboard a U.S. Air Force C-5 cargo plane. The Backplane, inside the Space Telescope Transporter for Air Road and Sea (STTARS) container, is off-loaded from the C-5 and carefully transported to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. There the container is moved into the cleanroom and opened in preparation for the removal of the Backplane.
The Webb Telescope’s Backplane is a large composite structure that holds and supports Webb’s hexagonal mirrors. The backplane supports the weight of the 21-foot (6.5 m) diameter mirror, and 5,300 lbs (2,400 kg) of telescope optics and instruments.
