NASA released the first, highly-anticipated deep space images from its James Webb Space Telescope this week. But the arrival also spotlights continued calls to rename the groundbreaking machine – in light of allegations that Webb was complicit in the abuse and discrimination of LGBTQ people during his tenure at the federal space agency.
The $10 billion, “next Hubble” telescope that was decades in the making is now sending back its first images, nearly seven months after leaving Earth and traveling about a million miles from our planet. President Joe Biden unveiled the first James Webb image Monday night, and NASA released additional, stunning images filled with thousands of galaxies on Tuesday – marking the deepest view of the cosmos ever captured.