NASA Insists On Naming The James Webb Telescope, Despite Allegations Of Homophobia

The James Webb telescope is named after former NASA Director, James Webb. (photo: doc. NASA)

JAKARTA – Last October, NASA announced that it would not be renaming the James Webb Telescope before its December launch. NASA continues to use the name, despite a petition against the tribute to the space pioneer now claimed by some to be homophobic.

Webb, who died in 1992 aged 85, was the second administrator in NASA's history. He took the helm of the US Space agency at the request of John F. Kennedy in 1961.

Webb, ran the agency until 1968 and was instrumental in the successful Apollo program sending Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to walk on the moon.

In 2002, NASA announced that its new $10 billion (Rp. 143 trillion) telescope to be launched in December 2021 would be named after him, James Webb.

But in recent years the decision has drawn criticism. In fact, a petition this year appeared to rename the telescope and has already received 1,200 signatures.

The petition organizers accused Webb of being homophobic because of his role in the 1963 firing of a NASA employee who was accused of being gay.

Questions were also raised about his participation in the 'Lavender Scare' from 1950 to 1952, when he was in the State Department, and 91 gay people had been 'purged'.

However, on September 30, Bill Nelson, NASA's administrator, said they had decided not to rename the telescope.

"We have found no evidence at this time warranting a name change to the James Webb Space Telescope," he told NPR, as quoted by Dailiymail.com.

The James Webb telescope itself is described as a 'time machine' that can help uncover the secrets of our universe.

The telescope will be used to look back at the first galaxies born in the early universe, more than 13.5 billion years ago, and observe the source of stars, exoplanets, and even the moon and planets of our solar system.

The James Webb telescope and most of its instruments have an operating temperature of around 40 Kelvin – about minus 387 Fahrenheit (minus 233 Celsius).

Officials say the costs may exceed the $8 billion program limit set by Congress. NASA itself has poured 7 billion US dollars into the telescope.

When launched in 2021, the James Webb Telescope will be the largest and most powerful telescope in the world, capable of peering back 200 million years after the Big Bang.