most existential questions. are we alone in the universe? and where did that first light in the cosmos come from? >> i think its greatest discoveries are going to be answers to questions that we have yet to ask or imagine. >> reporter: webb's deputy project manager was hired by nasa 30 years ago to help fix hubble. >> it was the mechanical version of eye surgery. "endeavour's" mission in space was to install corrective mirrors of the near sighted at nearly $2 billion hubble space telescope can do what it's supposed to do, see. >> reporter: once in space, webb can't be repaired by astronauts. it will be too far away. orbiting the sun at a distance four times further away from earth than the moon. the telescope is also so big, about the size of a tennis court, that it can't fit on top of a rocket fully intact. >> we had to design it so it could be folded up and then unfold in space. it's the origami observe tory.