Webb Space Telescope Deployment Sequence

The Webb Telescope is the largest space telescope ever built. Scheduled to be launched in October 2018, the telescope is too large to fit inside any rocket faring. So, it needs to be folded, like origami, to fit inside the Ariane V rocket faring.

The spacecraft is nearly assembled and is currently undergoing testing.

Once in space, Webb begins a well choreographed sequence of deployments to unfold to its full operational state. The stages of Webb's deployment process are narrated in this video.