Where is the Roman Space Telescope right now?

About 1,499,456 km from Earth as of 18 Oct 2026, 100% of the way to Sun–Earth L2 (1,501,000 km out), per the JPL Horizons ephemeris. It is coasting and slowing, now at 0.24 km/s relative to Earth.

When will Roman's first images be released?

Roman's first photons, an unfocused engineering test image, came on 15 Sept 2026. NASA expects science images by early 2027, after the telescope is aligned, focused and calibrated.

When did Roman launch?

30 Aug 2026 at 11:26 UTC (7:26 a.m. EDT), on a Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A.

When does Roman reach L2?

NASA puts orbit insertion at about 100 days after launch, around 08 Dec 2026. Commissioning (cooling, focusing and checking out the instruments) runs in parallel.

Where will Roman's data be published?

At MAST, the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes at STScI. Roman survey data has no proprietary period, so it is public as soon as it is processed.

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, tracked live: where it is, what it's doing, and its first images as they're released.

Acquiring

L+---:--:--:--

Coasting to Sun–Earth L2, 1.50M km beyond Earth.

Commissioning——

Launch → science operations · 110-day plan

Range from Earth

———

Speed

———km/s

One-way signal delay

———s

Cruise to L2

———

Latest confirmed

Coronagraph's first observation · 22 Sept 2026 · The Coronagraph Instrument saw starlight for the first time: a faint star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, then a crowded field there showing many stars in a single image. NASA ↗

All 10 milestones →

Get an email when Roman's first science images are released. NASA expects them by early 2027. One email then, one when survey data flows. Nothing else.

Gallery

1 image from the telescope · 281 photographs of it

Open the gallery →

Latest from the telescope

First photons: the Wide Field Instrument's first test image

15 Sept 2026 · NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center / Tyler Desjardins (STScI)

An unfocused engineering exposure with the detectors still stowed for launch — the baseline the team focuses against. Sharp images follow alignment and calibration.

Latest photographs

Two days later, at Goddard · Launch — all 281

Trajectory

Sun–Earth rotating frame · JPL Horizons

FlownPredicted through 04 Oct 2028L2 · halo orbit spans ±800,000 km, drawn on arrival1.494M km to L2 distance

Current activity

Launch & Orbit Verification sequence

Full timeline →

Resolving mission phase…

Data flow

Roman products in the MAST archive

First science images

Early 2027

NASA's guidance. Alignment, focus and calibration come first.

Products in MAST

141,156

Exposures

4,766

On the sky

2,715

Commissioning data, catalogued hourly from MAST. An exposure is listed once per detector, so products outnumber exposures. The files are not yet publicly retrievable.

See what it has observed

Quick answers

Where is the Roman Space Telescope right now?: About 1,499,456 km from Earth as of 18 Oct 2026, 100% of the way to Sun–Earth L2 (1,501,000 km out), per the JPL Horizons ephemeris. It is coasting and slowing, now at 0.24 km/s relative to Earth. Live position →
When will Roman's first images be released?: Roman's first photons, an unfocused engineering test image, came on 15 Sept 2026. NASA expects science images by early 2027, after the telescope is aligned, focused and calibrated. See the first-photons image →
When did Roman launch?: 30 Aug 2026 at 11:26 UTC (7:26 a.m. EDT), on a Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A. Confirmed milestones since launch →
When does Roman reach L2?: NASA puts orbit insertion at about 100 days after launch, around 08 Dec 2026. Commissioning (cooling, focusing and checking out the instruments) runs in parallel. Commissioning timeline →
Where will Roman's data be published?: At MAST, the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes at STScI. Roman survey data has no proprietary period, so it is public as soon as it is processed. What it will observe →