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last mo.

Roman Space Telescope Cleared for Launch, Liftoff Set for Aug. 30

Encapsulated and fueled after a full dress rehearsal and Flight Readiness Review, the observatory will head to the Sun–Earth L2 point for a roughly 100-day checkout before beginning wide-field surveys.

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope stands after engineers and technicians working inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility mated the observatory to its payload adapter and a strut payload attach fitting, a specialized piece of hardware designed for large, heavy loads at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape, Canaveral, Florida, U.S. August 7, 2026 NASA/Jolearra Tshiteya via REUTERS
Image
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman appears on Fox Business on Aug. 24, 2026. © Fox Business
An illustration shows NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in orbit, released on August 20, 2026. NASA/Handout via REUTERS

Overview

  • NASA and SpaceX completed a Flight Readiness Review and certified the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope ready for final launch work after a full launch‑day dress rehearsal and system checks.
  • Teams fueled Roman with 290 gallons of hydrazine, integrated it with its payload adapter, and encapsulated the observatory inside Falcon Heavy fairings ahead of mating and rollout to LC‑39A.
  • Launch is scheduled for 7:26 a.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 30, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy that will place Roman on a trajectory to the Sun–Earth L2 point where it will begin commissioning.
  • Roman’s Wide Field Instrument combines a 2.4‑meter mirror with an ≈300‑megapixel camera to image about 100 times Hubble’s field of view for surveys that will map billions of galaxies and run an exoplanet microlensing census.
  • After separation, engineers will spend about 100 days deploying, aligning, and calibrating systems before science operations begin; the mission has a five‑year primary plan with a goal of operating up to ten years.