A NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day entry dated August 31, 2026 reported that the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (RST) had been launched the previous day, August 30, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The accompanying video showed the launch, according to the entry.

The entry said RST carries a main mirror the same size as the Hubble Space Telescope's but can view 100 times more sky in each snapshot. It attributed this to a more curved main mirror, a closer secondary mirror and a larger main camera than Hubble's.

According to the entry, this wider field could support discovery of many more supernovas, informing understanding of the universe's expansion rate and composition, and many more planets orbiting other stars. RST is described as orbiting the Sun rather than Earth, like the James Webb Space Telescope.