James Webb Space Telescope Moves Forward Costing Taxpayers Over $8 Billion

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope gets a reprieve on funding for 2012. The project had been zeroed out by the House because it is over-budget. But NextGov reports, the appropriations bill approved in House and Senate conference last week includes more than $500 million for the Webb Telescope. NASA hopes to launch the telescope in 2018. It it now projected to cost a total of $8 billion. In their report, conferees said they had to cut other NASA programs to keep the Webb Telescope alive.