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IMAGES: NASA, SpaceX Successfully Launch Roman Space Telescope from Cape Canaveral on Sunday

By  //  September 2, 2026

Coverage of the launch can be seen on Space Coast Daily TV

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope successfully launched Sunday morning aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, beginning a groundbreaking mission to investigate some of the universe’s greatest mysteries.
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope successfully launched Sunday morning aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, beginning a groundbreaking mission to investigate some of the universe’s greatest mysteries.
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope successfully launched Sunday morning aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, beginning a groundbreaking mission to investigate some of the universe’s greatest mysteries.

BREVARD COUNTY • KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA – NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope successfully launched Sunday morning aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, beginning a groundbreaking mission to investigate some of the universe’s greatest mysteries.

The rocket lifted off at 7:26 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center as it carried the next-generation observatory into space.

Following liftoff, the Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters separated and returned to Florida for synchronized landings. Roman later separated from the rocket as planned and began its journey into deep space.

Named in honor of NASA’s first chief astronomer, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope combines sharp infrared vision with a field of view at least 100 times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Roman’s expansive surveys will allow scientists to study dark energy and dark matter, map billions of galaxies, examine black holes and discover and characterize planets beyond our solar system.

The observatory will travel to the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, known as L2, located approximately one million miles from Earth. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope also operates near L2.

Roman’s primary mission is expected to last five years, although NASA hopes the observatory will remain operational for as long as a decade.

Once scientific operations begin, Roman will collect enormous amounts of data while providing researchers with an unprecedented panoramic view of the infrared universe. Its processed scientific data will be made publicly available.

Sunday’s successful launch marked another major milestone for NASA, SpaceX and Florida’s Space Coast as Roman began its mission to transform humanity’s understanding of the universe.

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is encapsulated within the payload fairing at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ahead of mating to a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket for launch.