COSMIC EYE EXAM
THE MOMEN T NASA engineer
Ernie Wright examines 6 of
the 18 segments of the James
Webb Space Telescope’s
primary mirror in preparation
for a final round of testing at
Marshall Space Flight Center
in Huntsville, Alabama. A laser
system called an interferometer measures how the mirrors
warp as they cool from room
temperature to –415 degrees
Fahrenheit, slightly below
their normal operating range
in space. The mirrors must
hold their shape to within
25 billionths of a meter to
perform properly.
THE SHOT Photographer
David Higginbotham set
remote flashes in front of
himself and Wright to light
the chamber. He held his
Nikon D3 a bit above his eyes
so the camera would not
appear in the mirrors. The
texture seen in the mirrors is
the magnified reflection of
a seam on Higginbotham’s
clean-room suit.
