James Webb telescope sets off on million-mile voyage

Dr. Josef Aschbacher (L) and Thomas Zurbuchen (R) watch as Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket launches with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope onboard, from Europe's Spaceport at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. — NASA via AP

The world's most powerful space telescope on Saturday blasted off into orbit, headed to an outpost 1.5 million kilometres (930,000 miles) from Earth, after several delays caused by technical hitches.

The James Webb Space Telescope, some three decades and billions of dollars in the making, left Earth enclosed in its Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana.