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NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off at 7:26 a.m. EDT on 30 August 2026 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
The USD 4.3 billion observatory separated from the upper stage 31 minutes after liftoff and began a three-month journey to the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2.
It carries a 300-megapixel Wide Field Instrument with a field of view about 100 times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope.
The mission is designed to study dark energy, dark matter and exoplanets over a planned five-year science phase.
The telescope is named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first Chief Astronomer.
Lagrange points are the five positions in a two-body system such as the Sun and Earth where the gravitational pull of the two bodies and the centrifugal force on a small third body balance out, so a spacecraft parked there keeps station with relatively little fuel. L2 lies on the Sun-Earth line beyond Earth's orbit, roughly 1.5 million kilometres from Earth. It is prized by infrared and optical observatories because the Sun, Earth and Moon all stay in the same direction, so a single sunshield can block all three and keep the instruments cold and in permanent darkness on the observing side. The James Webb Space Telescope already operates from L2; India's Aditya-L1 solar mission instead uses L1, which lies between the Sun and Earth and gives an uninterrupted view of the Sun.
Simple Analogy: It is like standing exactly where two people pulling a rope in opposite directions cancel each other out. You stay put without effort, and if you position yourself behind a wall, the glare stays permanently on one side.
Also stationed at Sun-Earth L2 and also infrared, but optimised for deep, narrow observations rather than Roman's wide surveys.
India's solar observatory operates from Sun-Earth L1, the point between the Sun and Earth, demonstrating how mission goals decide which Lagrange point is chosen.
SpaceX's heavy-lift vehicle built from three Falcon 9-derived cores, with recoverable side boosters, now a routine option for flagship science payloads.
NASA's three-site global antenna network, at Goldstone, Madrid and Canberra, used for communication with spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit.
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One of five positions in a two-body gravitational system where a small object can maintain a stable position relative to both bodies.
The unexplained component driving the accelerating expansion of the universe, one of Roman's principal science targets.
Roman's 300-megapixel primary imager, with a field of view about 100 times that of Hubble, designed for large-area infrared surveys.