Updated
Updated · ScienceDaily · Aug 24
NASA Clears Roman Telescope for Aug. 30 Launch on Falcon Heavy
Updated
Updated · ScienceDaily · Aug 24

NASA Clears Roman Telescope for Aug. 30 Launch on Falcon Heavy

3 articles · Updated · ScienceDaily · Aug 24

Summary

  • NASA and SpaceX set a no-earlier-than 7:26 a.m. EDT launch target for Aug. 30 after a Flight Readiness Review cleared the Roman Space Telescope for final preparations.
  • Friday's review at Kennedy Space Center certified the spacecraft, rocket, launch site and mission status, allowing teams to begin the last prelaunch phase.
  • At Launch Complex 39A, crews will move Roman—already sealed inside Falcon Heavy's fairing—to SpaceX's hangar, attach it to the rocket and then roll the stack to the pad.
  • Roman, NASA's newest space telescope, is built to survey wide swaths of sky to study cosmic expansion, the universe's history and planets orbiting distant stars.

Insights

Will the upcoming Falcon Heavy launch deploy the exact technology needed to spot rogue planets wandering the galaxy?
How did surplus military spy hardware become a $4.3 billion civilian telescope aiming to photograph alien worlds?
Could a telescope with a view 100 times larger than Hubble finally unravel the universe's dark energy mystery?