The sunshield was hand-assembled at ManTech (NeXolve) in Huntsville, Alabama before it was delivered to Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, California for testing.[19] During launch it was wrapped around the Optical Telescope Element and then later unfolded.[3] The sunshield was planned to be unfolded approximately one week after launch.[20] During development the sunshield layer material was tested with heat, cold, radiation, and high-velocity micro impacts.[10]