NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched at 7:26 a.m. EDT on Aug. 30, 2026, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency said in a release that day. The observatory began a planned three-month journey toward the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, L2, about one million miles from Earth.

Ground controllers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center began receiving telemetry seven minutes after launch, and the rocket separated from the observatory 31 minutes into flight. NASA reported that the solar panels and lower instrument sun shade deployed about an hour and 23 minutes after launch.

Roman pairs a large field of view with infrared vision to survey the sky rapidly and study dark matter, dark energy and exoplanets. NASA said the telescope is designed to survey the universe a thousand times faster than its Hubble Space Telescope and will send back 1.4 terabytes of data daily. NASA anticipated releasing Roman's first images by early 2027.