NASA, SpaceX Ready to Launch Roman Space Telescope from Cape Canaveral, Launch Set for Sunday
By Space Coast Daily // August 27, 2026
Coverage of the launch can be seen on Space Coast Daily TV
BREVARD COUNTY • CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – Coverage plans are ready for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope prelaunch and launch activities. Roman is NASA’s next-generation observatory designed to explore some of the universe’s biggest mysteries, including dark energy.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting Roman’s liftoff for no earlier than 7:26 a.m. EDT Sunday, Aug. 30, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Launch coverage begins at 6:20 a.m.
Named for NASA’s first chief astronomer, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will pair sharp infrared vision with a field of view at least 100 times larger than the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope.
Its crisp, sweeping surveys will help scientists investigate dark energy and dark matter, discover and characterize exoplanets, map billions of galaxies, study black holes, and explore objects from our own solar system to the edge of the observable universe.
After launch and separation from the rocket, Roman will travel to the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, or L2, about one million miles from Earth.
The mission has a five-year primary lifetime with a goal of operating for 10 years, and Roman’s science data will be publicly available after processing.
Sunday, Aug. 30
6:20 a.m.: Launch coverage begins.
7:26 a.m.: Launch
9:30 a.m.: Postlaunch news conference with the following participants:
- NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
- Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
- Jackie Townsend, Roman telescope project manager, NASA Goddard
- Julie McEnery, Roman telescope senior project scientist, NASA Goddard
- Denton Gibson, launch director, NASA’s Launch Services Program, NASA Kennedy
