The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will launch from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A at 7:26 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 28. The telescope will ride a SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy rocket into orbit, according to NASA. The mission aims to study dark energy, exoplanets, and astrophysics, with the telescope arriving at the launch site on Tuesday, Aug. 25, after being moved from the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility.
Named after NASA’s first chief astronomer, Nancy Grace Roman—often called the 'mother of the Hubble Space Telescope'—the telescope is designed to capture more of the night sky than any previous instrument. Development began in 2016, and the mission is ahead of schedule and on budget, despite initial plans to launch in September. The telescope’s 100-times-larger field of view compared to Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope will allow it to map the universe in unprecedented detail.
Unlike Hubble or Webb, the Roman telescope will not replace them but work alongside them. Its wide field of view means it can survey vast areas of the sky quickly, helping astronomers track cosmic phenomena like gravitational lensing and detect distant planets. The mission is expected to provide data that could reshape understanding of dark energy, which makes up 70% of the universe.
The launch will be streamed live by WESH 2, with the video player available on the station’s website. For Brevard County, the event highlights the region’s continued role as a hub for space exploration. The telescope’s departure from the Space Coast follows decades of launches from the same pad, which previously hosted Apollo missions and modern spacecraft like SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.