NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launch and postlaunch news conference: Live updates – as it happened

Nicky Fox, the associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, sees Roman's images as the first step towards the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO)—the world's first telescope designed specifically to find life around other stars. "The coronagraph and all the data is really going to set us up," she explained. "Also, finding these possible 100,000 new exoplanets is what really gives the Habitable Worlds a catalog to go in and really do that detailed study."

Roman telescope senior project scientist Julie McEnery said that Roman will find thousands of new exoplanets within just a year from now and make measurements of the number of those that no longer orbit their host stars. "We will be making new precise measurements of supernovae," she added. "Those same observations will allow us to catch the unexpected."

President Donald Trump phoned in mid-conference to express his appreciation of the Roman telescope mission.

"I just want to thank everybody and congratulate you. Boy, it (the launch) looked beautiful on television," he said. "I just called Jared to find out if there is anything negative that I should know about, like it will never be able to return, little things like that. He said, 'No, it's looking great. It couldn't be better.'"

Townsend said she expects Roman to send down its first images "before the winter holidays" once the 90-day commissioning period is over.

Speaking to a reporter at the news conference, the Roman telescope project manager, Jackie Townsend, said that the observatory's five-year extension is "definitely on the table," even though there is no confirmation yet. "My flight dynamics people would not promise me anything yet, but I think tomorrow, after the mid-course correction burn, we should have an answer for you," she said. 

While Roman has a five-year primary mission span, it has the capability to operate for another five years, with fuel being the limiting factor. And while NASA does not have the capability to service spacecraft at L2 yet, the observatory is designed as refuelable.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said that the solar panels and Lower Instrument Sun Shade (LISS) aboard Roman have been deployed successfully following the observatory's separation from Falcon Heavy. Consisting of two deployable panels, the LISS is designed to protect the observatory from sunlight. "Ground controllers at NASA Goddard have been receiving telemetry data from Roman, and apparently all systems are nominal," Isaacman added.

The high-gain antenna, which will be the primary means of communication between Roman and the ground, will deploy tomorrow.

With the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on its way to the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, NASA is gearing up for a postlaunch interaction with the press. 

The conference will begin at 9:30 am EDT and will feature the following participants: 

• NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
• Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
• Jackie Townsend, Roman telescope project manager, NASA Goddard
• Julie McEnery, Roman telescope senior project scientist, NASA Goddard
• Denton Gibson, launch director, NASA’s Launch Services Program, NASA Kennedy

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has disengaged from Falcon Heavy following two successful second stage burns.

The mission team will now deploy Roman's solar panels and point them towards the Sun and execute a mid-course correction over the next day or so. The latter will help keep the observatory on the right track towards the second Sun-Earth Lagrange Point (L2), about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, where it will be stationed for the duration of its mission.

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy has successfully put Roman into its initial orbit. The flight is now in its coast phase, and the observatory will be deployed 31 minutes and 31 seconds into the mission. 

SpaceX confirmed that both of the Falcon Heavy boosters have achieved successful landings in Landing Zones 2 and 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The livestream, however, showed the landing of only one booster.

The Falcon Heavy side boosters have completed their respective entry burns and are on their way to SpaceX's Landing Zones 2 and 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

The fairing that enclosed the Roman telescope has disengaged from the rest of the Falcon Heavy rocket. Its function was to protect the observatory from acoustic vibrations, aerodynamic pressure, and heating when the rocket made its journey through Earth's atmosphere.

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Telescope has taken flight atop SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket! The launch took place on time at 7:26 am EDT from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Roman will now travel to the second Sun-Earth Lagrange Point (L2), about 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth, where it will have a relatively unobstructed view of the cosmos. L2 is also where NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is stationed.

SpaceX has finished loading both stages of the Falcon Heavy with liquid oxygen. The launch is expected to take place in just about a minute. 

SpaceX has finished fueling the Falcon Heavy first stage with rocket-grade kerosene. Engine chill is also underway. The launch is expected to take place in about 5 minutes.

The Roman telescope is expected to achieve liftoff in less than 10 minutes. Everything remains on track for an on-time launch.

SpaceX has begun loading liquid oxygen into the second stage of the Falcon Heavy rocket. First stage propellant loading, meanwhile, is nearing completion.

SpaceX has begun loading rocket-grade kerosene into the second stage of the Falcon Heavy rocket. Everything remains on track. Liquid oxygen loading will begin around 18 minutes and 30 seconds ahead of launch.

SpaceX is now loading the Falcon Heavy first stage with rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen. The weather continues to improve.

SpaceX will soon begin loading the Falcon Heavy vehicle with rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen. The launch probability has also risen from 50% to 70%. There was some concern surrounding clouds in the area yesterday, but thankfully the weather has started to clear. 

With Roman's launch being targeted for 7:26 am EDT today, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket assigned for the mission is vertical at pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The weather is 50% favorable.

Named after NASA's first chief of astronomy, the observatory will combine a large field of view (100x larger than the Hubble) and a crisp infrared vision to study billions of cosmic objects, including exoplanets, supernovae, and black holes. It will also help astronomers answer essential questions on dark matter and dark energy.