AO improvements over the past decade have made ground-based astronomy provide better images, with large enough apertures, than Hubble.
You are correct - the NIR is blocked by the atmosphere. That is why we are launching Webb. Optical, however, is very much now the domain of ground-based astronomy.
You are correct - the NIR is blocked by the atmosphere. That is why we are launching Webb. Optical, however, is very much now the domain of ground-based astronomy.