At some point they're going to have to shit or get off the pot.
I get the whole covid delay but (as I said before) if not that, then something else.
I feel like they could have built and launched three imperfect versions for less cost in the hopes one worked.
ETA: I said three but wiki sez
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Web ... _Telescope
the conception in 2003 was 2.5 billion and here we are at almost 10 billion. So, four of them
I hope they do launch, even if it fails. Sometimes KISS is a valuable lesson in itself.
ETA2: On further perusal of wiki, I find:
The [JW] telescope's delays and cost increases can be compared to the Hubble Space Telescope.[53] When Hubble formally started in 1972, it had an estimated development cost of US$300 million (or about US$1 billion in 2006 constant dollars),[53] but by the time it was sent into orbit in 1990, the cost was about four times that.[53] In addition, new instruments and servicing missions increased the cost to at least US$9 billion by 2006.[53]
Okay. I admit Hubble was worth it. But I'm reminded that Hubble would have been a catastrophic failure but for the possibility of a repair mission. No such repair is possible for Mr. Webb.