Launch of newest NASA telescope delayed to October 2021

NASA's new telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, is scheduled for launch on October 31, 2021 according to a July 16 press release from the agency. 

The telescope was originally scheduled to launch from French Guiana in March of 2021, but impacts from the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and technical difficulties caused the eight-month delay. NASA said the decision was based on a recently conducted assessment of risk of "remaining integration and test activities prior to launch."

“The perseverance and innovation of the entire Webb Telescope team has enabled us to work through challenging situations we could not have foreseen on our path to launch this unprecedented mission,” Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, said in NASA's release. He stated that Webb is "the world's most complex space observatory," and a top priority for the agency. "[...] we’ve worked hard to keep progress moving during the pandemic. The team continues to be focused on reaching milestones and arriving at the technical solutions that will see us through to this new launch date next year.”

The Webb development team has made significant strides in preparing for the telescope's launch and that testing continues to progress at the mission's main industry partner, Northrop Grumman, in CA's Redondo Beach. 

The coronavirus pandemic disrupted the agency's plans, however, and a progress assessment of the project originally planned for April was postponed to mid-July. NASA chose to delay the telescope's launch date, as well, due to reduced personnel on-site, technical delays and augmented safety precautions, NASA reported. 

Webb is using existing funding to remain under its development cost cap of $8.8 billion. Gregory Robinson, director of the Webb program at NASA headquarters, said that the program is expected to be completed without use of additional funding. 

“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. After resuming full operations to prepare for upcoming final observatory system-level environmental testing this summer, major progress continues towards preparing this highly complex observatory for launch," Robinson said in the press release. 

The Webb telescope will undergo a series of environmental tests before being shipped to the Kourou, French Guiana launch site.