Nasa sets late-August launch date for Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Nasa has officially set Sunday, August 30, 2026, as the launch date for its highly anticipated Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the space agency's next major space observatory after the James Webb Space Telescope.The spacecraft is scheduled to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at around 4:56 pm IST. An artist's concept of the Nancy Grace Space Telescope. (Photo: Nasa) The mission is launching nearly nine months ahead of its original schedule.Named after Nancy Grace Roman, Nasa's first chief of astronomy, the telescope is expected to transform scientists' understanding of the universe by tackling some of astronomy's biggest mysteries, including dark matter, dark energy and planets beyond our solar system. An image of Nancy Grace observing her work.