Technology NASA delays James Webb Space Telescope launch date by at least seven months

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NASA has announced a seven-month delay to the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to the thirty-year-old Hubble Space Telescope.

The delays are in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant fewer staff were able to work on the ‘scope and when they did work progress was slowed by “augmented safety precautions.” Those factors meant that a planned review of the project intended for April was concluded last week.

On top of showing that work has slowed, the review found unspecified “technical challenges” that will take extra time to overcome.

NASA therefore moved Webb’s target launch date from March 2021 to October of the same year.

“Although efficiency has been affected and there are challenges ahead, we have retired significant risk through the achievements and good schedule performance over the past year,” said Gregory Robinson, NASA Webb program director. “After resuming full operations to prepare for upcoming final observatory system-level environmental testing this [northern] summer, major progress continues towards preparing this highly complex observatory for launch.”

 
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