Falcon HeavyFalcon Heavy | Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
Launch Time
Sunday, August 30, 2026 at 11:26 AM UTC
Current Status
Go for Launch
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a NASA infrared space telescope with a 2.4 m (7.9 ft) wide field of view primary mirror and two scientific instruments. The Wide-Field Instrument (WFI) is a 300.8-megapixel multi-band visible and near-infrared camera, providing a sharpness of images comparable to that achieved by the Hubble Space Telescope over a 0.28 square degree field of view, 100 times larger than imaging cameras on the Hubble. The Coronagraphic Instrument (CGI) is a high-contrast, small field of view camera and spectrometer covering visible and near-infrared wavelengths using novel starlight-suppression technology. Roman objectives include a search for extra-solar planets using gravitational microlensing, and probing the expansion history of the Universe and the growth of cosmic structure, with the goal of measuring the effects of dark energy, the consistency of general relativity, and the curvature of spacetime.
Launch Provider
SpaceX
Launch Vehicle
Falcon Heavy
Launch Date
30 August 2026
Launch Time (Minute)
11:26 AM
Launch Window
Instantaneous
Launch Status
Go for Launch
Astrophysics
Sun-Earth L2
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a NASA infrared space telescope with a 2.4 m (7.9 ft) wide field of view primary mirror and two scientific instruments. The Wide-Field Instrument (WFI) is a 300.8-megapixel multi-band visible and near-infrared camera, providing a sharpness of images comparable to that achieved by the Hubble Space Telescope over a 0.28 square degree field of view, 100 times larger than imaging cameras on the Hubble. The Coronagraphic Instrument (CGI) is a high-contrast, small field of view camera and spectrometer covering visible and near-infrared wavelengths using novel starlight-suppression technology. Roman objectives include a search for extra-solar planets using gravitational microlensing, and probing the expansion history of the Universe and the growth of cosmic structure, with the goal of measuring the effects of dark energy, the consistency of general relativity, and the curvature of spacetime.
Credit: Not available
Window Start
11:26 AM
Liftoff (T-0)
11:26 AM
Window End
11:26 AM
SpaceX
Commercial
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.
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On July 27, technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida installed a memory card containing 1,350,144 names as part of a commemorative plaque on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The names were submitted by people globally, including astronauts from Artemis II and Artemis III. The memory card will travel with the Roman observatory […]
NASA’s next flagship space telescope is set to launch in late August, nine months ahead of schedule. The post Roman Space Telescope on track for late August launch appeared first on SpaceNews.
Media are invited to join NASA for a virtual news conference at 2 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, July 29, to preview the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope mission, scheduled to launch from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, Aug. 30. NASA will stream this event live through a variety of platforms. Learn where […]
Media accreditation now is open for the launch of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the agency’s SpaceX Crew-13 missions, both targeting launch in the coming months. The Roman telescope is slated to launch no earlier than 7:20 a.m. EDT Sunday, Aug. 30, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at […]
How do black holes at the center of galaxies form and grow over time? To answer this question, scientists need to detect and study supermassive black holes at great distances, which existed much earlier in the universe’s history. New research suggests NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is on track to launch Aug. 30, […]
NASA’s next space telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, arrived at Kennedy Space Center… The post NASA’s Roman telescope into prelaunch servicing following arrival in Florida appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.
Under budget and ahead of schedule, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has crossed another milestone in its journey to the stars.
In this June 21, 2026, photo, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrives at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard NASA’s Pegasus barge. After offloading and transportation to the spaceport’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, Roman will undergo processing ahead of launch, targeted no earlier than Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026. Named for NASA’s first […]
The $4.3 billion observatory will go through about 70 days of prelaunch processing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center before it launches on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket no earlier than August 30.
Are you ready for a new view of the universe? The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will reveal distant worlds, dark energy, and the structure of the cosmos, and we want you to be a part of it! Digital creators and social media users are invited to register to our NASA Social for the Nancy […]