The James Webb Space Telescope, an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope scheduled for launch in August 2013. The telescope is designed to study the earliest galaxies and some of the first stars formed after the Big Bang. JPL is managing the development of the Mid Infrared Instrument, one of the three focal plane instruments on the space telescope. Goddard Space Flight Center manages the space telescope mission for NASA.