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Status Update

Commissioning of the James Webb Space Telescope continues to be on track. This week, 132 actuators moved all 18 primary mirror segments and the secondary mirror out of their launch restraints and into their nominal positions, ready for subsequent activities to align the JWST optics. The instruments and the telescope continue to cool as JWST arrived at its L2 orbit insertion point and we head toward the completion of the first month of commissioning. In the near future, once the temperatures are right, all the instruments will be turned on and we will begin a three-month-long period to align the primary mirror. Science operations are still five months away, but every week we get closer to that goal.