After an incident during the preparations for its launch that required additional testing, the US space agency NASA announced that the Teleksop James Webb, which was

supposed to be launched on December 22 from the French city of Koro, Guiana, would not be launched before December 24 because of a technical communication problem.

It noted that "the launch by Ariane rocket was postponed to 24 December at the earliest."

In a statement, NASA explained that "teams are working on a technical problem in communication between the observatory and the launch system on Earth."

The Agency has announced that a new launch date for the telescope will be set before Friday.

James Webb is a complex engineering gem, and it will be the largest and most powerful telescope ever sent into space.

The telescope was manufactured in the United States under NASA and includes equipment from the European and Canadian space agencies.

The telescope arrived in French Guiana in October, after a 16-day voyage on a ship launched from California.

James Webb was presented as the successor to the Hubble telescope launched in 1990.

The telescope's mission will include discovering all phases of space formation with high precision, until the early ages of the universe and the formation of the first galaxies.