Another eye in the sky

Cleveland-based TRW Inc. won a $824.8 million contract to build the James Webb Space Telescope, which will replace the Hubble Space Telescope.

TRW will lead development of the observatory and build and integrate the spacecraft, which has been named in honor of NASA's second administrator. This next-generation space telescope will peer into the depths of space to see the first stars and galaxies formed in the universe billions of years ago.

A component of NASA's Origins Program, the telescope will search for answers to questions about the birth and evolution of galaxies, the size and shape of the universe and the life cycle of matter. TRW's team includes Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo., and Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y. The James Webb Space Telescope program is led by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and consists of an international team involving NASA, the European Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, industry and academia.