ULTIMATE SPACE TELESCOPE introduces viewers to the engineers responsible for building, launching, and deploying the most ambitious telescope of all time, chronicling the ups and downs of the events leading to its launch. The film gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the nerve-wracking, step-by-step process of each critical deployment, leading up to a thrilling success: JWST’s first image: A picture of a single star that turned out to be much more—an image revealing never-before-seen galaxies.
The film will include the latest developments from the JWST mission, right up until the moment it airs on PBS. NASA is set to release the first full-color images and spectroscopic data from the telescope on July 12, some of which NOVA will add to the special just hours before its broadcast. It will also feature footage of reactions to JWST’s findings from the scientists and engineers who worked on the mission. A second NOVA film about the JWST, currently in production, is set to premiere on PBS in early 2023. That film will delve even deeper into Webb’s discoveries—following its developments in the upcoming months—and reveal what they could mean for our understanding of the universe.