The James Webb space telescope has reached its final destination in space. The successor to the Hubble space telescope, it will peer through space to a past era of the universe that we have yet to observe. The light reaching the Webb will have travelled for more than thirteen billion years, bringing with it evidence from the birth of the very first stars, black holes and galaxies. What we will discover might rewrite the history of the Universe as we know it, writes Emma Curtis Lake.

The James Webb telescope is the largest one ever to be launched into space. 25 years in the making, thousands of people have contributed to a project that has produced a telescope larger than its launch vehicle, heralding a new era for space missions.