NASA to Host Media Briefing on Roman Telescope, Launching Next Month

NASA has announced a virtual media briefing for July 29, 2026, to preview the upcoming launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is now scheduled to lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 30, 2026. The briefing will provide an overview of the mission and its current status, with participation from key NASA officials including Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of the Astrophysics Division; Jackie Townsend, Roman telescope project manager; Julie McEnery, senior project scientist; and Jeremy Perkins, integration and test scientist.

The Roman telescope is named after NASA’s first chief astronomer and is designed to offer a field of view at least 100 times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope. This capability will allow it to conduct deep, sweeping surveys of the cosmos, capturing never-before-seen images that could revolutionize our understanding of the universe. The mission aims to unveil hidden celestial objects and address profound mysteries, including phenomena that are currently invisible. It will also test advanced technology for directly imaging planets around nearby stars, a critical step in the search for life beyond Earth.

The telescope is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, with contributions from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech/IPAC, the Space Telescope Science Institute, and various research institutions. Industrial partners include BAE Systems Inc., L3Harris Technologies, and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging. International contributions come from ESA, JAXA, CNES, and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.

Media interested in participating by phone must RSVP to Rob Garner at rob.garner@nasa.gov no later than two hours before the briefing. The event will be streamed live on NASA’s website. The launch, originally planned for a later date, has been moved up by nine months, with technicians having lifted the telescope to a work stand at Kennedy Space Center on June 26, 2026, as part of final preparations.