Roman Space Telescope Lifts Off

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 31, 2026 shows the liftoff of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the agency's newest infrared observatory.

NASA's featured image documents the rocket carrying the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope climbing away from its launch pad, marking the start of the observatory's journey into space, according to NASA.

Roman is built to survey huge swaths of sky in infrared light, with a field of view roughly a hundred times larger than Hubble's while matching its sharpness. Scientists plan to use it to probe dark energy, hunt for exoplanets through gravitational microlensing, and map the structure of the galaxy.

The telescope is headed toward the Sun-Earth L2 point, the same stable gravitational parking spot used by the James Webb Space Telescope, where it will undergo months of commissioning before starting routine science operations.

The mission is named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first chief astronomer, who was instrumental in getting the Hubble Space Telescope approved and built.