NASA launches first telescope named after female scientist

NASA has launched a powerful new telescope designed to explore distant planets, exploding stars and black holes while surveying the universe on an unprecedented scale.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, named after one of the first women to hold a senior leadership position at NASA, was launched aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday.

The telescope is expected to reach its destination, approximately 1.6 million kilometers (about one million miles) from Earth, in approximately one month's time.

The mission has a total budget of more than $4 billion (€3.45 billion). The first images are expected back on Earth in early 2027.What will the Roman telescope do?

Astronomers will use "Roman" to investigate a wide range of cosmic phenomena, including black holes, exoplanets and exploding stars.