NASA hosted a news conference detailing the JWST'sprogress. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., were on hand to tour the Goddard Space Flight Center and discuss what the JWST means for the space agency and the future of space research.

Mikulski, as chairwoman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, fought to save NASA from budget cuts in the recently announced $1.02 trillion spending bill. Forfiscal 2014, NASA received a budget of $17.6 billion, and Congress kept the provision that capped the James Webb Space Telescopes budget at $8 billion.

The JWST was on the chopping block ahead of 2011s spending bill but was saved following cuts on other ventures and the acceptance of a budget cap on the project by NASA. Mikulski discussed the smashing success of Hubble, saying the space telescope has rewritten the science books and likened the evolution of space telescopes to going from a biplane to the jet engine and has high hopes for the JWST.

As chairwoman, Ive continued to fight for funds in the federal checkbook to keep the James Webb Space Telescope mission on track, supporting jobs today and jobs tomorrow at Goddard. NASA Goddard is home to leaders in Marylands space and innovation economies, making discoveries that not only win Nobel Prizes, but create new products and jobs. The James Webb Space Telescope will keep us in the lead for astronomy for decades to come, spurring the innovation and technology that keep Americas economy rolling, said Mikulski in a statement.

According to NASA, the JWST is almost complete as the final set of primary mirrors have been delivered to Goddard and the telescopes four science instruments are also sitting in the facilitys clean room. The science instruments include a Near-Infrared Camera, a Near-Infrared Spectrograph that can analyze 100 objects simultaneously, a Mid-Infrared Instrument and a Fine Guidance Sensor and Near-infrared Imager to boost the telescopes resolution.

All thats left for the JSWT is the assembly as NASA waits for the telescope structure while the telescope sunshield, developed by Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, is in the final stages of completion. NASA says the James Webb Space Telescope will be assembled by 2016 and will undergo final testing before its launch in 2018.

The full James Webb Space Telescope conference can be viewed below.

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The James Webb Space Telescope Will Be Like Going From A Biplane To The Jet Engine, Says Sen. Mikulski