re: Webb telescope, still scheduled for November launch?

My brother is actually working on this project and he’s been told no PTO will be given and travel will be restricted at least through March. They are pushing like hell to get it launched by the end of the year.

He explained to me that most of the delays came from an engineering perspective. With Hubble, the orbit is close enough to where, if something breaks, it’s relatively easy and “inexpensive” to send a team up with the necessary parts. With Webb being a million miles out (3x further than the moon), post-launch repairs are near impossible. They’ve had to be sure it would be able to survive the launch and transit 100% intact and remain fully operational for as long as possible. All the simulations they ran showed things that needed to be improved on so the entire mission isn’t a waste.