I think it's great how much that NASA advertised this telescope, and the name. They really piggy-backed off the love of Hubble, of astronomy picture of the day

I think it's great how much that NASA advertised this telescope, and the name. They really piggy-backed off the love of Hubble, of astronomy picture of the day, etc. Don't get me wrong, it's great science, but great science doesn't always mean great PR. I feel like if you ask people about what NASA has done recently, they'll be like, I dunno. (last answer would have probably been the Shuttle, while ISS has some good coverage it doesn't seem as exciting to people). But they do likely know about Hubble and now Webb. Which is great, because the amount that the population thinks NASA gets in terms of tax payer dollars is grossly overimagined. It's less than 1%. But in the US you need great PR to get the funding for projects, not only to start, but also to not cancel them after a regime change.