The successor to the aging Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be launched in 2013 to explore the formation of the first stars and galaxies in the Universe. The telescope was named after NASA's second administrator James E. Webb.It will be larger than its predecessor, sit farther from Earth and have a giant mirror to enable it to see more.
A full-scale model (see picture above) is being displayed outside the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in the US capital, Washington DC.
The $4.5bn (£2.3bn) telescope will take up a position some 1.5 million km (930,000 miles) from Earth.
It will measure 24m (80ft) long by 12m (40ft) high and incorporate a hexagonal mirror 6.5m (21.3ft) in diameter, almost three times the size of Hubble's.
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