Washington (United States) (AFP) – NASA is preparing to launch its new flagship space telescope on Sunday, embarking on a multi-year mission to create an unprecedented map of the cosmos and shed light on some of the biggest mysteries in physics.
Issued on: 30/08/2026 - 03:27
Designed to take a panoramic view of the vast reaches of space, the Roman Space Telescope "will help unlock the secrets of the universe," US President Donald Trump said Friday during a ceremony at NASA headquarters in Houston, Texas.
Standing over 12 meters (39 feet) tall, the state-of-the-art observatory is scheduled to launch from Florida at 7:26 am (1126 GMT) aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
Developed over more than a decade at a cost topping $4 billion, the telescope is named after pioneering US astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, who became known as the "Mother of Hubble," another of NASA's flagship telescopes.
