NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched on August 30, 2026, at 7:26 a.m. EDT aboard a Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. NASA’s September 3 report describes a roughly three-month, million-mile journey toward its final orbit.
What Roman will study
The telescope combines a broad field of view with infrared observations to investigate dark energy, dark matter and planets beyond our solar system. Wide surveys let astronomers study large populations of objects rather than concentrating only on individual targets.
The next milestone
Getting into space is the start of the mission. Travel to the operational orbit and preparation for observations still follow; the launch report does not mean the full science program is already under way.
Explore the Falcon Heavy encyclopedia entry and spaceflight timeline.
Primary source: NASA report. Source published 2026-09-03; summary checked 2026-09-08.