For more than a decade, Ephrata-based Lester R. Summers Trucking has hauled equipment and material across the country and beyond for NASA.

The effort continues with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which is set to launch from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on the northeastern coast of South America on Saturday, Dec. 18. Summers Trucking has worked alongside NASA hauling JWST each step of the way.

JWST and Summers Trucking have been on the move for much of the last month. In September, Summers worked to transport the massive container from Northop Grumman's facility in Redondo Beach, Calif., to Seal Beach, Calif., where it was driven onto a ship. Over the next 16 days, the satellite was at sea, passing through the Panama Canal and eventually reaching the port in South America. Summers then worked to maneuver the observatory from the ship to the launch location.

The James Webb Space Telescope project started about 25 years ago and carries a $10 billion price tag. According to NASA, JWST's revolutionary technology will explore every phase of cosmic history from within Earth's solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe and everything in between.