So, it’s JWST Week

On Tuesday morning, at 10:30am Eastern, NASA is going to release the N+1 few fully processed science images acquired by JWST. I’ve heard rumors of researchers crying when they first see these results, and NASA is putting so much fanfare into this release that somehow President Biden has gotten involved, and now he’s going to be releasing the first science image on Monday, at 5pm Eastern.

To say NASA is pulling out every stop to announce that this telescope is working may be one of the bigger understatements for 2022 (which admittedly, has been more of a year for overstating things, rather than understating things).

I have every single mixed feeling about this mission. There is clearly the good — science is going to be possible that wouldn’t be possible without a many-meter Infrared space telescope in a distant location. NASA is likely to get a huge boost in public opinion polls, and John Mathers, one of the nicest Nobel prize winners out there, is going to be able to eventually retire knowing he has twice accomplished something incredible. This last holds true to one degree or another for all the engineers, scientists, and support folks of all types who made this mission happen. These folks deserve to take this moment and feel proud.

But the joy felt by some is bitterness for others. Back in the summer of 2018, I had a telecon with a NASA program officer who told me that JWST cost overruns and launch delays were going to take a chunk out of her budget and she may take a chunk out of mine. In October 2018, the primary funding…