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[Shadow Spawn]

http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/

Pretty much everything you need to know about Hubble's replacement.

The really cool thing about this telescope is that it should hopefully be able to see far enough that we will be able to see way back before there were galaxies, when there was simply a huge cloud of energy and matter that was all pervasive.

It might be able to give us more clues about the origin of our universe... much more than the hubble already has.

[PIXIE]

any thoughts on why it will take another 7 years before they can launch this telescope?

[Shadow Spawn]

Funding, mostly...  And some of the tech isn't built yet.

The biggest obstacle with this telescope is the fact that it won't be near Earth like Hubble, but at a LeGrainge point quite a distance from Earth.  It will be in such a position that the gravity of the Earth will cancel out the gravity of the Sun and other things in the solar system.  Essentially a stable orbit following the Earth.  It will also keep the Earth between the telescope and the Sun, so that sunlight won't get in the way of the view.

Launching it is going to be difficult, and will require a lot of planning...  but it should open our eyes about a lot of things.

Personally, I can't wait to see what we learn with this telescope.