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Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope blog is NASA's hub for the mission's launch updates, where all are invited for behind-the-scenes looks on Roman's road to launch and beyond. This flagship mission’s vast, deep surveys will help astronomers explore dark matter, dark energy, exoplanets, and almost anything from our own solar system to galaxies at the edge of the observable universe. Follow along to join in on the excitement!

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Telescope Milestone: NASA’s Roman Moves Vertical Ahead of Processing

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, large spacecraft, wrapped in silver thermal covering is tilted upright on a massive white rotation stand inside a clean room at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, June 25, 2026. Several technicians in blue clean-room suits and protective gear stand around the base, observing the operation. The spacecraft’s solar arrays are partially deployed overhead. Mission logos, an American flag, and clean-room equipment line the white walls in the background. Photo credit: NASA/Sydney Rohde (Rocz)
Technicians and engineers inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida rotate the agency’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to vertical Thursday, June 25, 2026, using precision handling hardware.
NASA/Sydney Rohde (Rocz)

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has completed important prelaunch milestones as it prepares to launch nine months ahead of schedule. Engineers at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida raised Roman from horizontal to vertical, signaling preparations are moving forward for upcoming inspections, functional testing, and integration work.

Technicians transferred the observatory to NASA Kennedy inside its specialized, climate-controlled shipping container. Following Roman’s arrival, the team moved the telescope to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility for inspection after its trip from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Engineers completed additional cleaning to remove any trace contaminants from the facility’s airlock before crews unboxed and raised Roman vertically in the high bay.

Named for NASA’s first chief astronomer and “mother of the Hubble Space Telescope,” the Roman Space Telescope will offer a field of view at least 100 times larger than Hubble’s, resulting in deep, sweeping explorations of the cosmos.

NASA and SpaceX are targeting launch no earlier than Sunday, Aug. 30, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy.

To learn more about the Roman mission, visit:

www.nasa.gov/roman