This sounds really exciting. I can't wait to see the images. I'm sure they'll be as awe-inspiring as the first pictures from Hubble (which still are of course).

I can't wait for its launch and the first images. Surely it will open new doors to the mysteries of universe. not only breathtaking images could be captured, but also it may help us to understand the ORIGIN of everything, including ourselves. Without doubt, the reliability of the systems shall be up to the highest point, wheres after launch, it is impossible to correct any probable fault or error. good luck JWST project team. I wish I could be a part of that :(((((

Global collaborations are in !

I really hope that the observations with this amazing telescope will support every bit of the theory of "The Structure and Composition of the Cosmos"  (www.finaltheories.com), that says, that big bang took place in an existing Universe.

Is there any particular reason why the mirrors are hexagons?

Gigantic task. Real service to knowledge.

Northrop Grumman is NASA's contractor for the James Webb Telescope. They should have mentioned that. I went to the showroom where they are building it.

If you don't believe, no explanation is possible; if you do believe, no explanation is necessary.

Much happier to see this kind of money spent on true science than political wars.

Will its huge size make it more susceptible to damage from meteorites?

Big bang?  Some people will always believe that humans "evolved" from nothing, when "something" happened, and boom!  A big bang.  Really?  Not.

I enjoy seeing pictures from a really good telescope. But those pictures would not be available and so breathtaking if God hadn't created it for us to find.

If people like this girl, and the college "professors" that """"profess"""" they know this stuff as real science would just stop and admit that they don't really know all that much, would at least make them appear believable and hence a little trustworthy. But when they spew forth their perceived "knowledge" as fact, well....................So, if you don't believe that God created everything for us, then one of you needs to explain how you make let's say, a tree, or a butterfly, or a Giraffe, or a ................................

I can't wait to learn more new discover from the telescope.

Wonderful! 

I can't begin to imagine what we'll be able to view given what Hubble gave us already!  Excited!

It will be an incredible Telescope.

Will it be able to look back to the instant of the big bang, or close ? What would the light at this point in time appear like ?

Awesome !!! Can't wait

Marvelous, so much to learn, so little time! Keep leaning into the solar winds!

...

where we came from...... !!!

This is really exciting.

It is said in history " The sun is not orbiting around earth, but the earth does" .. all i wish with this Telescope is to break more rules , prove more things wrong!!!

What did I miss?  I thought congress had killed this off.

Too cool

At the same time this makes me proud of the human kind and humble. What did we learn in 2,000 years ! What did we learn in the last 10 years ! How much knowledge the human kind developed in just the last week ! And yet, this is nothing compared to what we don't even know that we don't know !

Thank you.  I learned a lot.  I am glad this is being done. 

no sound

Thats so god

I can't wait for results. They may come too late. See, I'm 84.

SO much better value for money than humans on Mars...

Wanna find out where we came from ? Look in a Bible... Probably cost you only 10 bucks...... heh

To assault the pursuit of knowledge with the derisive limitations intrinsic to sophism

is abhorrent. 

Amazing.  Where are the launch details?  I would love to be there.

..it is only to the next lavel, there will be more coming...facinating

Fascinating.  But, don't you think that if god had meant for us to see the beginning of the universe we would have been born with JWST eyes?  Besides, the lord might get ticked off if we capture a picture of him/her getting dressing for creation.

@PAMELA BROMBERG Hexagons can be manufactured very accurately and easily transported, yet they can be joined together to created a single, unbroken and almost perfect surface of unlimited size. No other shape is better suited. The reflector of the new telescope is being constructed that way and could be two or three times larger if required. The hexagons are easily transported and joined into a single unit and any damage is repairable as just one or two hexagons can be changed. 

It would be almost impossible to manufacture a perfectly concave reflector as a single unit and then transport it into space. During transport it couldn't keep it's perfect optical properties and any slight damage would ruin the entire reflector and the whole project. During operation any damage would also destroy the entire telescope if it were a single unit. 

Hope that helps. 

@Dave Blevins

A big need for a "reality check"? Reading up on Darwin's work would be a good start on the journey towards opening one's mind, enabling some of us to see a bit of what is really going on around us, and with us: knowledge replacing superstition will solve some of mankind's most urgent problems. People addicted to superstition generally have no questions, have replaced them with faith in the truly unbelievable. Yet we have come a long way already with science making good advances against ignorance, arrogance and intolerance. There is still hope.

@Larry DeClerck:  At t < 300,000 years the universe becomes opaque, because temperatures were still too high for protons and electrons to bind into hydrogen. Space was filled with an ionic plasma, so light could not travel without constantly interacting with charged particles.

The cosmic background radiation we see today when looking at empty space is the red-shifted high-energy radiation from that time. It looks like a blackbody spectrum at 2.7 K.

Imagine the tower of babel; we have exceeded it

Still believe the world was created in 6 days?

@TJay Jonnson Amen brother!

Yeah, because Christianity is never wrong...right? Just ask Galileo. Some people. Zeus damn it!

@TJay Jonnson  

Good thing you were not consulted for engineering input.... heh

@Stanley Wecker  

Your comment is infinitely beyond his mental capacity. Bible??

@Stanley Wecker

  Hey,if you're rich and can afford it !.................

@Mike Whiting

Lunch details ?  To bad, lunch is over.....

@Mike C. it's God and Lord......and your blasphemy will do you in someday.....

@Mike C.  

See Patrick's comment, Mike. 

God must have had a bad hair day when he created you.

@Mike C.  If god hadn't meant for us to see the beginning of the universe he would have made us much less intelligent.

@Mahendra Sookhlall  no, by a brahma bull or a great dragon....

@Jim Fox @Stanley Wecker yes, your open-mindedness surpasses all known intelligence.......

@DEAN REINKING @Mike C.  I dont' know.. why you guys call every big thing a GOD?... after 20, 30 years later . .. you will call an GOD ...

@Jim Fox

Jim, you have no idea how many times people have said that to me...  either that or god must have a sense of humor.  Hopefully the JWST will catch a picture of him/her laughing.

@Patrick Ahles @Mike C. God