NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Telescope launched aboard SpaceX's Falcon Heavy

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Liftoff occurred at 7:26 a.m. EDT on August 30, 2026, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission used two first-stage side boosters — one flying for the first time, the other for the third, having previously launched the GOES-U and Viasat-3 F3 missions — both targeting landings at Cape Canaveral's Landing Zones 2 and 40. The observatory carries a primary mirror the same size as Hubble's, but paired with a camera capable of capturing images at least 100 times larger in field of view. Roman will now spend roughly 30 days traveling to its orbit at the Sun-Earth L2 point, where it will have an unobstructed view of the universe, with science operations expected to begin in early 2027 to map billions of galaxies, discover new exoplanets, and study dark matter. Video Credit: NASA/SpaceX