NASA Sets Coverage for Roman Space Telescope Launch from Florida

NASA has finalized prelaunch and launch coverage for its Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Liftoff is targeted for no earlier than 7:26 a.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 30, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. Launch coverage will begin at 6:20 a.m. and stream on NASA's platforms via https://www.nasa.gov/live.

Named after NASA's first chief astronomer, Roman will combine sharp infrared vision with a field of view at least 100 times larger than Hubble's. Its surveys will investigate dark energy and dark matter, discover and characterize exoplanets, map billions of galaxies, study black holes, and explore objects from the solar system to the edge of the observable universe. After launch, it will travel to the Sun-Earth L2 point about one million miles from Earth, with a five-year primary lifetime and a goal of operating for 10 years; science data will be publicly available.

On Saturday, Aug. 29, NASA will hold a mission science briefing at 9 a.m. with participants including Shawn Domagal-Goldman, Julie McEnery, Vanessa Bailey, Kristen McQuinn, and Lee Armus, followed by a prelaunch news conference at 10:30 a.m. with Nicky Fox, Lucas Paganini, Jackie Townsend, Denton Gibson, Julianna Scheiman, and Justin McReynolds. Media may ask questions in person or by phone, with dial-in details available from the Kennedy newsroom.