The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) did not wait until after liftoff to confound its creators with new discoveries—vexing technical issues that have forced yet another launch delay and threaten to drive the long-troubled program over its congressionally mandated $8 billion cost cap. It is a familiar story that NASA also faces with Webb’s companion observatory, the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFirst), once targeted for a mid-2020s launch to enlighten the astrophysics ...
