Stay on Top of the James Webb Space Telescope

摘要

During an April 23 hearing that focused primarily on NASA's strategic human spaceflight activities, House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) asked NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to comment on reports of instrument delivery delays on the agency's flagship astronomy observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope. Mr. Bolden's response: "That's news to me." That was the wrong answer. Wrong not because it isn't true - it's perfectly plausible that Mr. Bolden had not been informed about any new issues with the program, perhaps because there are none, or at least none that might threaten its schedule. Indeed, Mr. Bolden's response was one that is commonly used to indicate some measure of surprise at the question or statement that prompted it.