Episode 3: The Big Chill
STScI reporter, Mary Estacion (left), and freelance videographer, Kristan Getsy (right), examine a mirror segment before it enters the vacuum chamber for testing.
Kristan Getsy, "Behind the Webb" videographer, has tape applied to her suit to ensure that she doesn't bring particles into the the clean room that holds the Webb mirrors.
Shownotes
The James Webb Space Telescope features a mirror 21.3 feet (6.5 m) across, with nearly seven times the area of the famed Hubble Space Telescope. In order to launch something this size, NASA designed the primary mirror to consist of 18 separate, hexagon-shaped mirrors that will fold up inside the rocket that carries the telescope into space. The mirror components are being tested both individually and together. A specially designed vacuum chamber at Marshall Space Flight Center simulates the extreme conditions of space, subjecting the mirror segments to temperatures as low as 400 degrees below zero.
Webb Technology Challenge: Make it Big
Webb Technology Challenge: Keep it Cold
NASA image gallery: NASA Chills: James Webb Space Telescope Mirrors Are Readied for Test
NASA news release: Mirror Testing at NASA Breaks Superstitious Myths