NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched Sunday aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The $4.3 billion mission, named after NASA's first chief astronomer, lifted off at 7:25 am EDT. Unlike the James Webb Space Telescope, which faced years of delays, Roman arrived at the launch pad nine months early, reflecting NASA's commitment to send it skyward by May 2027.

The observatory, equipped with a 300-megapixel camera and a refurbished spy mirror, will travel to the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, nearly 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. It features a 7.9-foot-diameter primary mirror, the same size as Hubble's. Once operational, Roman will provide a field of view 100 times wider than Hubble, allowing it to image vast cosmic regions efficiently. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman called the launch a