NASA's newest space telescope just switched on its giant camera. Here is what it is, where it is headed and when its first pictures arrive.
Between Sept. 11 and 13, NASA powered up the Wide Field Instrument, a 300-megapixel infrared camera, and took a first, out-of-focus test shot of starlight.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy lifted Roman off pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, at 7:26 a.m. ET (4:26 a.m. PT).
Roman's camera matches Hubble's sharpness but sees a patch of sky about 100 times larger, so it can map huge swaths of the cosmos fast.
Roman's second instrument, the Coronagraph, passed its first tests. It blocks starlight to spot planets and dusty disks around nearby stars.
A three-minute burn after launch hit 99% accuracy and used about 40 pounds of fuel, less than 10% of the 441 pounds set aside for it.
Roman was planned for a 5-year mission plus 5 more. Fuel savings mean it could now observe for at least 22 years, into 2048.
Roman is flying to L2, a stable point beyond the Moon on Earth's far side from the Sun. NASA says it is already about 1 million miles into the trip.
Nancy Grace Roman was NASA's first chief astronomer, often called the 'mother of Hubble.' She was photographed here at Goddard in 2017.
Teams still have to align the telescope and finish checkouts. NASA expects the first images in early 2027, with a goal of light from a billion galaxies.
Roman cost about $3.2 billion to build and now works in space. Next up: focusing the mirror and turning on its fine guidance system.