Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Joining other historic NASA missions like Apollo, Voyager, and the Discovery Space Shuttle, Webb’s Optical Telescope Element Pathfinder has made its way to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Smithsonian museum for permanent display.
The Pathfinder is the largest intact mirror support structure of its kind, comprised of exotic lightweight materials invented for the purpose of seeing near to the very limits of the observable universe.
This unique piece of hardware served a critical role in ensuring mission success by enabling engineers to build a comprehensive testing program to validate and ensure the most complicated optical system ever built would work flawlessly after launch.
For more information, visit nasa.gov/webb
Credit:
Producer / Writer: Thaddeus Cesari
Editor: Paul Morris
Images: NASA, ESA, CSA, STSci
Special Thanks to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum
Music Credit:
“History in Motion” by Fred Dubois [SACEM], Koka Media [SACEM], Universal Publishing Production Music France [SACEM], and Universal Production Music.
This video can be freely shared and downloaded at svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14984. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual
Joining other historic NASA missions like Apollo, Voyager, and the Discovery Space Shuttle, Webb’s Optical Telescope Element Pathfinder has made its way to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Smithsonian museum for permanent display.
The Pathfinder is the largest intact mirror support structure of its kind, comprised of exotic lightweight materials invented for the purpose of seeing near to the very limits of the observable universe.
This unique piece of hardware served a critical role in ensuring mission success by enabling engineers to build a comprehensive testing program to validate and ensure the most complicated optical system ever built would work flawlessly after launch.
For more information, visit nasa.gov/webb
Credit:
Producer / Writer: Thaddeus Cesari
Editor: Paul Morris
Images: NASA, ESA, CSA, STSci
Special Thanks to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum
Music Credit:
“History in Motion” by Fred Dubois [SACEM], Koka Media [SACEM], Universal Publishing Production Music France [SACEM], and Universal Production Music.
This video can be freely shared and downloaded at svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14984. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual
