With this quote:

"It still gobbles the mind why such a minial science derivative craft would take so long to come to fruition."

Kepler was never high profile. It was not one of the Four Great
Observatories. It may not even have had the kind of people on its
team who were good at genuflecting and butt-kissing the right people
at NASA. Thus the long delay.

Of course the cosmic punchline is that this little David to the old
Goliaths may be the one that finds the Holy Grail of exoplanets, a world
similar in size and orbit from its star to Earth.

Now whether that place will have life or not, and if we have the right
to colonize such a world even if the highest life forms are algae, is
another matter. But our first concern is finding out if We Are Not Alone.

Kepler may be the one to do this. Just be glad it is finally up there and working.