The European Space Agency is picking up the launch costs, with a French-built Ariane rocket providing Webb’s lift from French Guiana. Webb’s price tag is an estimated $10 billion that includes the first five years of operation. That doesn’t include all the shuttle flights for launch and repairs. NASA’s tab for Hubble from its 1970s development until now: $16 billion, adjusted for inflation. Webb also is years late with huge cost overruns. Hubble was years late and millions over budget by the time it rocketed into orbit in 1990. This modeled visualization of the moon’s orbit patterns over the course of a month shows the “moon wobble” as it makes its elliptical orbit. Webb will constantly face the nightside of Earth as the spacecraft and planet swoop around the sun in unison. This is where the gravitational forces of the Earth and sun balance, requiring minimal fuel for a spacecraft to stay put. Webb is bound for more a more distant spot - 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away at what's called the second Lagrange point. The altitude was dictated by the capabilities of NASA’s space shuttles, which delivered Hubble to orbit and then made five service calls. Hubble circles 330 miles (530 kilometers) overhead. Each of the 18 hexagonal segments are the size of a coffee table and coated with ultra-thin gold, an ideal reflector of infrared light. It’s also segmented, allowing it to fold like a drop-leaf table for launch. That’s because Webb’s mirror is made of beryllium, a strong but lightweight metal. The mirror spans more than 21 feet (6.5 meters), yet is lighter than Hubble’s, which is 8 feet (2.4 meters) across. To discern the universe's first, faint stars, Webb requires the largest mirror ever launched for astronomy. Multiple layers also better protect against micrometeorite hits. Between each of the sunshield’s five layers is a gap so heat can escape out the sides.

To stay chilled, Webb carries a parasol the size of a tennis court. That’s why Webb’s detectors need to run at minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 240 degrees Celsius). The shorter visible and ultraviolet wavelengths emitted by the first stars and galaxies have been stretched as the universe expands, so Webb will see them in their elongated, heat-emitting infrared form. Webb has infrared vision, allowing it to pierce cosmic clouds of dust. Hubble sees what we see - visible light - with a little ultraviolet and infrared thrown in. “It’s like looking at the picture book of my kids and missing the first two years, right? Trying to figure out where they come from,” said NASA science chief Thomas Zurbuchen. Astronomers are eager to close the 300 million year gap with Webb and draw ever closer in time to the Big Bang, the moment the universe formed 13.8 billion years ago. Hubble has stared as far back as 13.4 billion years, disclosing a clumpy runt of a galaxy that is currently the oldest and farthest object ever observed. This light will reveal how the original stars looked 13.7 billion years ago. Webb is expected to behold light from the universe’s first stars and galaxies, beyond Hubble’s range. NASA Releases Stunning New Pic of Milky Way's ‘Downtown' Let There Be Light Bigger and more intricate than Hubble, Webb will be a goner if its foldout mirror and sunshield snarl. Soaring from South America on a European Ariane rocket, Webb won't be reachable by astronauts at its destination 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away. Spacewalking astronauts fixed it three years later. Within weeks, Hubble’s blurry vision was detected. Astronauts suited up for an emergency spacewalk, but commands from Earth freed the panel.

It quickly ran into trouble: one of the telescope’s solar wings jammed as it was unfurling. Hubble caught a lift to orbit tucked inside NASA’s space shuttle Discovery in 1990. The lowdown on Hubble versus Webb: Rocket Rides Its liftoff is slated for Saturday morning from the coast of South America. With NASA and the European Space Agency's Hubble pushing 32 years in orbit, the bigger, 100 times more powerful Webb is widely viewed as its successor even though the two are vastly different. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia newsletters. Get Philly local news, weather forecasts, sports and entertainment stories to your inbox.

Hubble vs webb images