Godspeed, Roman Telescope! Best images of SpaceX Falcon Heavy launching NASA's flagship observatory

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is currently cruising in space after its successful launch on August 30. The flagship observatory hitched a ride atop the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, which lifted off at 7:26 am EDT from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, completing its second mission of the year. Roman also marked the third NASA mission launched by Falcon Heavy, which has previously sent the Europa Clipper spacecraft to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa and the Psyche probe toward a metal-rich asteroid. 

The brilliant early morning event produced stunning pictures of the launch, which NASA and SpaceX said went flawlessly. At about 32 minutes after liftoff, SpaceX announced the successful deployment of the Roman telescope by the second stage. The company shared the picture below showing the Falcon Heavy lifting off with the Roman telescope, which is expected to shape our understanding of the universe in the years to come. 

Falcon Heavy is SpaceX’s most powerful operational rocket, and it’s capable of lifting nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lbs) to orbit. During yesterday’s launch, its 27 Merlin engines on three boosters generated more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff.

The picture below shows the Falcon Heavy rising through a cloud of smoke from the Kennedy Space Center. 

A few minutes after the two Falcon Heavy boosters separated from the center core, they returned to Landing Zones 2 and 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The image below captures one of the two boosters moments before touchdown. It was the debut flight for one of the boosters, while the other completed its third mission, having previously supported GOES-U and Viasat-3 F3 launches.

During the post-launch press conference, NASA officials lauded SpaceX for providing a launch vehicle on schedule for Roman, which launched nine months ahead of schedule. The following picture shows the Falcon Heavy seconds after its liftoff as the launch tower retracted away from the ascending rocket. 

The Roman telescope is on its way to the second Earth-Sun Lagrange Point, or L2, which will provide it with an unobstructed view of the night sky. From this location, Roman will study billions of galaxies, stars, black holes, supernovae, and exoplanets for at least five years. The following picture shows Falcon Heavy firing all three boosters as it pushes Roman into low-Earth orbit.

Equipped with a powerful 300-megapixel infrared camera and a coronagraph, Roman will scan the sky a 1000 times faster than the Hubble telescope with a field of view 100 times larger. According to NASA, it will also boost efforts to uncover mysteries of dark energy, which is believed to be causing the expansion of the universe.

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