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James Webb Space Telescope: The Story Unfolds

'James Webb Space Telescope: The Story Unfolds' is a live and interactive planetarium show developed by the INTUITIVE® Planetarium at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. The show highlights the engineering and deployment of the space telescope and explores its four primary science mission objectives (Early Universe, Galaxies Over Time, Other Worlds, Stellar Life Cycles). The visualizations demonstrate concepts such as redshift, universe expansion, transit spectroscopy, and stellar birth. The show features the latest imagery from JWST and includes 3D visualizations of the Pillars of Creation.

  • Brittany Kundert
    Director
  • A. David Weigel
    Producer
  • Brittany Kundert
    Lead Writer
  • Emma Cleveland
    Writer
  • Paul Farinosi
    Writer
  • Erin Nagelkirk
    Writer
  • Phil Schrimsher
    Writer
  • Samantha Pinter
    Writer
  • Sophia Villamor
    Writer
  • Lee Whitten
    Writer
  • A. David Weigel
    Writer
  • Erin Nagelkirk
    Lead Visual Artist
  • A. David Weigel
    Artist
  • Emma Cleveland
    Artist
  • Erika Silva
    Artist
  • Thefanis Matsopoulos/NASA/GSFC & AVL at NSCA, B. Robertson, L. Hernquist/ESO
    Galaxy Collision Simulation
  • Michael McConville
    M74 Composite Demo
  • Brittany Kundert
    Key Cast
    "Presenter"
  • A. David Weigel
    Science Advisor
  • Erin Nagelkirk
    Science Advisor
  • Christian Sutton
    Filming
  • Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission
    Copyright
  • Project Type:
    Other
  • Genres:
    Live, Fulldome, Planetarium, Education, Astronomy
  • Runtime:
    40 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 31, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Distribution Information
  • INTUITIVE Planetarium
    Distributor
    Country: United States
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Brittany Kundert

Brittany Kundert is a Technical Developer for the INTUITIVE® Planetarium at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, where she develops content for planetarium programming via show writing and production, processing imagery from the James Webb Space Telescope, and serving as an educator in the dome. Other works include the global planetarium domecast 'To Bennu and Back: OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return.'

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Director Statement

'James Webb Space Telescope: The Story Unfolds' was something we knew we wanted to create even before the telescope itself was launched. As soon as we got our hands on those first Webb images, our team here at the INTUITIVE Planetarium was presenting them in the dome. We hosted four or five sold-out shows about Webb's first image release and realized there was a strong public interest for more in-depth programming about Webb. Funding from the Northrop Grumman Foundation allowed us to create a cohesive, well-rounded story about Webb’s journey to study the history of our universe. The show's live nature gives us flexibility to include new Webb images as soon as they are released, which is really powerful to our audiences.

We have been overwhelmed by the public response to the show as it has inspired literally thousands of people at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and elsewhere to learn about the James Webb Space Telescope and this next chapter of space discovery. This project is something we are very proud of and excited to share with the world!