Webb telescope reaches destination, one million miles from Earth: NASA

Nasa has successfully sent the James Webb Space Telescope into its intended destination – the so-called second Lagrange point – around 1.5 million KM away from Earth. —NASA/AFP

The James Webb Space Telescope has fired its thrusters and reached its orbital destination around a million miles (1.5 million kilometres) away from our planet, NASA said Monday, a key milestone on its mission to study cosmic history.

At around 2pm Eastern Time (1900 GMT), the observatory fired its thrusters for five minutes in order to reach the so-called second Lagrange point, or L2, where it will have access to nearly half the sky at any given moment.