28 years ago the Hubble Space Telescope began circling the Earth. Hubble launched from the space shuttle Discovery and since then as been gifting us with stunning, high resolution, never before seen images of the solar systems best objects. Not only has it given us pictures, but also discoveries like dark matter, Pluto, black holes and the fact that the universe is growing at an accelerating rate, instead of slowing down.
While Hubble has and always will be an amazing leap for science, the telescope won't last forever. So alas, NASA is planning its retirement party.
Hubble isn't getting replaced, but merely upgraded.
The differences between Hubble and Webb are pretty astronomical. Starting with size. Hubble is about the size of a tractor trailer, at about 43.5 feet long. Webb on the other hand is about the size of a tennis court, at about 69 feet long.
Next is wavelength. It is an infrared observatory which will base its missions off of what Hubble discovered. Webb will have a longer wavelength coverage as well as heightened sensitivity. The point of this is to be able to look for the formation of the very first galaxies. Webb will also have the ability to look inside the dust clouds of stars being formed today!
Lastly, orbit. One of the biggest worries NASA has for Webb is the fact that they can't fix it if something messes up. Webb will be orbiting 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. Which is farther than any maned mission has ever been. As opposed to Hubble, which was so close to Earth's orbit is was launched via a space shuttle. Webb will be launched on a rocket.
At the 1.5 km point where Webb will be orbiting, the solar shield will be able to block the light from Earth, the Sun and the Moon. Webb has to keep that infrared telescope as cool as possible. Basically, Webb will stay in the same fixed spot. A more detailed explanation of the sun shield from NASA's best web scientists can be found here, https://jwst.nasa.gov/sunshield.html.
Webb will be launching Spring of 2019!
But, if you're too excited (like me) NASA has a live web cam feed for those who need some serious space.
https://jwst.nasa.gov/webcam.html
https://jwst.nasa.gov/webcam.html
The biggest part of Webb's mission is getting there. This is a video of how it will get 1.5 km from Earth!
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