For the last 30(ish) years, scope-heads have eagerly anticipated the launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. And tomorrow, sometime around 7:20am ET, the largest and most powerful telescope to ever leave Earth will begin its million-mile journey into deep space from its launch site in French Guiana.

Its space plans: While its older brother Hubble mainly captured images in visible light, Webb was designed to take photos in infrared light. This means it can cut through space dust and gas to capture much older, never-before-seen stars and planets—and in doing so, could potentially see back to the beginning of the universe.

The specs: The telescope is three stories tall with a gold-plated mirror that stretches 21 feet wide. Its tennis court-sized sunshield will keep the telescope cozy at -370 degrees Fahrenheit, NPR reports.

More delays than Spirit

Although it was originally conceived as a $1–$3.5 billion project, the now $10 billion Webb telescope has suffered so many setbacks that some astronomers weren’t sure it would ever launch. NASA’s initial expected launch date was somewhere between 2007 and 2011, but in 2011 the House of Representatives voted to end the project. Bullish on the telescope’s potential to revolutionize astronomy, the scientific community rallied until the deep space dreams were brought back to life.

• There’s also been pushback around the telescope’s name. Critics pointed out that James Webb, the former NASA administrator that the telescope is named for, allowed government discrimination against gay and lesbian employees to take place while he was in charge.
• After NASA finished an internal investigation this year, it said it had decided against changing the name.

Big picture: There’s a lot riding on the Webb telescope. One in every three dollars spent on astrophysics at NASA in the last 20 years has gone to building this thing—and if something goes wrong (like, say, during its incredibly complicated unfolding process), the agency could have spent the last three decades building a multibillion-dollar pile of space debris.—MM

It is now illegal to import goods from China’s Xinjiang region into the US unless companies can prove they weren’t made with forced labor, according to a historic bill signed by President Biden yesterday.

The law, which Congress passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, is the US government’s biggest move yet to punish China for its reported human rights abuses and genocide against mostly Muslim minorities in the region.

Big picture: While Xinjiang is a relatively obscure location in remote northwest China, it’s become a significant link in global supply chains, the NYT writes.

• Factories in Xinjiang produce electronics and apparel that are shipped all over the world.
• It also supplies an estimated 20% of the world’s cotton and nearly half of the world’s polysilicon—the raw material used to make solar panels.

Bottom line: US multinationals are stumbling as they try to balance Washington’s hostile stance toward China with trying to conduct business in the world’s second-largest economy. Want one example? Intel sparked huge backlash on Chinese social media after it told its suppliers to avoid sourcing goods from Xinjiang. The company apologized to its Chinese customers, partners, and the public yesterday.—NF

An update to the ongoing tug-of-war between organized labor and Amazon: In a nationwide settlement with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the company agreed to notify past and current employees—around 1 million people—about their rights to organize.

The settlement, finalized on Wednesday, also requires Amazon to end its “15-minute rule” that required employees to only be on company property within 15 minutes of the beginning or end of their shift (making organizing a major uphill battle).

Given Amazon’s size—750,000+ people work in its US operations—the NLRB settlement is a massive shift in employees’ favor. And it comes amid a flurry of labor activity at Amazon in recent weeks:

• The NLRB authorized a second union election at a warehouse in Alabama after finding that the company illegally interfered in the first vote.
• Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island refiled a request for a union vote.
• Amazon suspended its plan to ban cellphones in warehouses after six employees were killed when a tornado struck an Illinois facility. OSHA is investigating the tragedy.

Zoom out: Former NLRB chair Wilma B. Liebman said the settlement sends a signal to all large employers that the agency is serious about enforcing the law.—MK

Stat: Virtually no new homes in the US sold for under $200,000 in November, according to a new report from the Commerce Department. Compare that to 2002, when houses priced under $200k accounted for 56% of all new home sales.

Quote: “In theory momentos serve to bring back the moment. In fact they serve only to make clear how inadequately I appreciated the moment when it was here.”

Joan Didion, one of the greatest American writers of the past century, died yesterday at 87. If you want to find out what made Didion such a profound cultural observer, start by checking out one of her essays this weekend. Or devour one of her many books.

Read: How many people are legally named Santa Claus? (Tampa Bay Times)

The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s final (!) Weekly News Quiz of the year has been compared to PTO.

It’s that satisfying. Ace the quiz.

Dear future me…This website could be useful for your New Year’s resolutions—it allows you to send an email to yourself in the future. Have fun.

An anti-“best of 2021” list: Here are some popular products you should absolutely not buy.

Need to do some last-minute gift wrapping? Consult one of these TikTok tutorials for assistance.

Ever wonder where classic Christmas movie characters would sit on the org chart? Yeah, us too.