The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA signed an agreement on June 18 to cooperate on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Pathfinder mission.

JWST involves a joint NASA, ESA and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) effort to investigate the origin and evolution of galaxies, stars and planetary systems. It is due for launch in 2013 and to operate for at least five years.

NASA, responsible for the overall management and operations of the JWST mission, will build the spacecraft, the telescope and the platform to host the instruments. ESA will provide the launch with an Ariane 5 ECA rocket.