Funding was restored and capped at $8 billion. In 2011, the United States House of Representatives voted to terminate funding, after about $3 billion had been spent and 75% of its hardware was in production. NASA has now scheduled the telescope for a 2018 launch. The first realistic budget estimates were that the observatory would cost $1.6 billion and launch in 2011. The JWST has a history of major cost overruns and delays. Webb, the second administrator of NASA, who played an integral role in the Apollo program. In gestation since 1996, the project represents an international collaboration of about 17 countries led by NASA, and with significant contributions from the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. This will include imaging molecular clouds and star-forming clusters, studying the debris disks around stars, direct imaging of exoplanets, and spectroscopic examination of planetary transits. Another goal is understanding the formation of stars and planets. This includes the very first stars, the epoch of reionization, and the formation of the first galaxies. One particular goal involves observing some of the most distant objects in the Universe, beyond the reach of current ground and space-based instruments. JWST's capabilities will enable a broad range of investigations across the fields of astronomy and cosmology. A large sunshield will keep its mirror and four science instruments below 50 K ( Template:Convert/multi2Loff). While Hubble has a 2.4-meter ( Template:Convert/LoffAonSon) mirror, the JWST features a larger and segmented 6.5-meter (21 ft) diameter primary mirror and will be located near the Earth–Sun L 2 point. The JWST will offer unprecedented resolution and sensitivity from long-wavelength (orange-red) visible light, through near-infrared to the mid-infrared (0.6 to 27 micrometers), and is a successor instrument to the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope ( JWST), previously known as Next Generation Space Telescope ( NGST), is a major space observatory under construction and scheduled to launch in October 2018.
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