system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why are large telescopes, such as NASA's James Webb, considered so fragile and extra precautions are taken before flight, but can survive the forces of acceleration and vibration from a shuttle launch?

I've seen news outlets report on the "drop" that happened with the telescope, and how it delayed it a little bit. It seems like everyone is so worried about the fragility of the components within these telescopes and their parts, but how are they able to survive the sustained vibrations and forces of a rocket launch if people have to be so careful with it even prior to the launch?
gpt
Spacecraft are designed to resist launch but only launch. In practice that means that they have one hard mounting point where they are mounted to the rocket and where all the force is applied. The rest of the structure might be really fragile. It means that it is also designed to resist to the precise type of vibration a rocket puts out and only for the duration of the launch. When designing spacecraft equipment you often optimize a lot for the launch. But just because it can withstand high g for 8 minutes doesn't means it will be able to survive the transportation loads. Just the vibration from road transport over hours can cause problems (which is why shipping boxes for spacecraft are very complicated).

So when there was this unexpected shock during integration you have to check everything again because it's unlikely that this precise case was ever simulated. Or even if it was simulated you need time to find out if it was the same thing as what you simulated. 

For launch they are also locked into a specific position. Antenna and mirrors will be folded and latched, the solar panels will have tie downs. This is actually one of the biggest mission risk for the telescope. It is folded up so much for launch that the deployment is something like a 300 steps process and needs dozens of latches to come free.

You can kind of think of it like an umbrella. An umbrella can take quite a bit of abuse if it's folded and you hold it by the handle. Once deployed the whole canopy is pretty fragile.