On July 18, 2014 the pathfinder, or test, backplane arrived at NASA Goddard. It was flown by C-5 from Northrop Grumman in California to Andrews Air Force Base, where it was then transported by truck (known as the STTARS - Space Telescope Transporter for Air Road and Sea) to NASA Goddard. The container was brought into the cleanroom where the lid was removed and the test backplane was unwrapped.
Over the next few months at NASA Goddard, we will install two spare primary mirror segments and the spare secondary onto it. It will then be shipped to NASA Johnson to be tested in Chamber A.
Image credit: Maggie Masetti
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