JWST's Near Infrared Spectrograph Status and First OTIS Test Results

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is frequently referred to as the follow-on mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The "Webb", as it is often called, will be the biggest space telescope ever built and it will lead to astounding scientific breakthroughs. The observatory is currently scheduled for launch in 2020 from Kourou, French Guyana by an ESA provided Ariane 5 rocket. The Observatory houses four scientific instruments. One of them is NIRSpec, the multi-object Near Infrared Spectrograph, built for ESA by Airbus Defence and Space in Germany. After the JWST Optical telescope Element (OTE) integration and testing was completed in early 2016, the Integrated Science Instruments Module (ISIM) was integrated to the OTE in May 2016. The complete system of OTE and ISIM, now called OTIS, then successfully went through an acoustic and vibration test campaign at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). After this, the OTIS system was shipped to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, TX, where a final 100+ days lasting cryogenic vacuum test was conducted inside the famous Thermal Chamber A. This paper presents NIRSpec's hardware status and some preliminary test results from the OTIS test campaign.