Launch & orbit verification
Commissioning the observatory
The flight plan runs 110 days from liftoff on 30 Aug 2026 to science operations: unfold, cool, focus, check out. NASA expects science operations to begin by early 2027.
Confirmed so far
10 milestones NASA has reported, newest first. Everything below this panel is the modeled plan.
22 Sept 2026
L+23d
Coronagraph's first observation
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. Fine guidance was tested with the instrument on 22 and 27 Sep. NASA ↗
21 Sept 2026
L+22d
Fine guidance verified
A week of tests (15–21 Sep) showed the observatory can hold its pointing to better than 1/100,000 of a degree: for half an hour at a time for Wide Field Instrument exposures, eight hours for the Coronagraph. NASA ↗
17 Sept 2026
L+18d
Ground stations ready
The last of three downlink tests passed: JAXA's Misasa station in Japan (7 Sep, up to 500 Mbit/s), the Near Space Network antennas at White Sands (8–11 Sep) and ESA's New Norcia station in Western Australia (17 Sep). Roman will send down about 1.4 terabytes a day, the most of any NASA astrophysics mission. NASA ↗
15 Sept 2026
L+16d
First photons
A test exposure with the detector array still in its stowed launch position, far from focus: a field of out-of-focus stars, each spread over thousands of pixels. The baseline for aligning and focusing the telescope. Science images are expected by early 2027. NASA ↗
11 Sept 2026
L+12d
Wide Field Instrument activated
After ten days of decontamination at −65 °C, the heater was switched off, the WFI cooled to −143 °C and all 18 detectors were powered. Calibration lamp that night, element wheel on the 12th, focus mechanism on the 13th. NASA ↗
01 Sept 2026, 12:22 UTC
L+2.0d
Coronagraph powered on
Power-on complete after 55 minutes. A 30-day decontamination follows before its mechanisms are exercised. NASA ↗
01 Sept 2026, 10:05 UTC
L+1.9d
Aperture cover deployed
Three spring booms raised the visor-like sunshade over eight minutes. The telescope is open to the sky. NASA ↗
31 Aug 2026, 18:03 UTC
L+1.3d
High-gain antenna deployed
The 1.7 m dual-band dish, four minutes to deploy. NASA ↗
31 Aug 2026, 16:02 UTC
L+1.2d
First mid-course correction
A three-minute burn, executed with better than 99% accuracy and less propellant than budgeted. NASA later put the fuel margin at 22+ years of operations. NASA ↗
30 Aug 2026, 11:26 UTC
L+0.0d
Liftoff
Falcon Heavy from LC-39A. Separation from the second stage at 11:57 UTC; solar array deployed within the hour. NASA ↗
Get an email when Roman's first science images are released
NASA expects them by early 2027. One email then, one when survey data starts flowing. Nothing else.
Sequence overview
12 activities, launch through first science
Every activity, in order
Ascent & Separation
Launch Vehicle · L+0d → L+1h
scheduledFalcon Heavy lofts the observatory onto a trans-L2 injection trajectory. Separation occurs roughly 40 minutes after liftoff.
- Liftoff · 30 Aug 2026 · NASA ↗
Planned steps: Fairing separation · Second-stage cutoff · Observatory separation · Initial tip-off rates damped
Planned window 30 Aug 2026 → 30 Aug 2026
Initial Acquisition
Spacecraft Bus · L+1h → L+1d
scheduledSolar array deploys and the observatory establishes a power-positive, thermally safe attitude. First contact through the Deep Space Network confirms a healthy bus.
Planned steps: Solar array deployed and latched · Sun-pointed safe attitude · First DSN acquisition of signal · Bus telemetry nominal
Planned window 30 Aug 2026 → 31 Aug 2026
Structural Deployments
Mechanisms · L+1d → L+5d
scheduledThe high-gain antenna, the deployable aperture cover and the solar-array sunshade move to their flight configurations. Each release is commanded and verified individually.
Planned steps: High-gain antenna deployed · Deployable aperture cover open · Sunshade fully extended · Mechanism telemetry within limits
Planned window 31 Aug 2026 → 04 Sept 2026
Trajectory Correction 1
Flight Dynamics · L+1d → L+1d
scheduledThe first and largest correction burn removes launch-vehicle injection error. It must fire early — a trans-L2 trajectory is deliberately biased short so it can never be aimed at the observatory's own sunshade.
- First mid-course correction · 31 Aug 2026 · NASA ↗
Planned steps: Burn attitude achieved · TCM-1 executed · Post-burn orbit determination
Planned window 31 Aug 2026 → 31 Aug 2026
Outgassing & Cooldown
Thermal · L+2d → L+45d
scheduledTrapped water and volatiles bake off the optics while passive radiators pull the Wide Field Instrument's detectors toward their 95 K operating point. This is the long pole of commissioning and cannot be rushed.
- Wide Field Instrument activated · 11 Sept 2026 · NASA ↗
Planned steps: Decontamination heaters cycled · Optical bench below 200 K · WFI focal plane at 95 K · Detector dark current within spec
Planned window 01 Sept 2026 → 14 Oct 2026
Trajectory Correction 2
Flight Dynamics · L+4d → L+7d
scheduledA small mid-course cleanup burn, flown only if needed, refines the approach so that the insertion maneuver at L2 stays inside its propellant budget.
Planned steps: TCM-2 executed · Approach corridor confirmed
Planned window 03 Sept 2026 → 06 Sept 2026
L2 Orbit Insertion
Flight Dynamics · L+100d → L+101d
scheduledA modest burn at the edge of the Earth–Sun L2 region captures the observatory into a wide halo orbit roughly 1.5 million km from Earth. The halo is unstable by design, so it is maintained with small station-keeping burns every few weeks.
Planned steps: Insertion burn executed · Halo orbit confirmed by ranging · Station-keeping cadence established
Planned window 08 Dec 2026 → 09 Dec 2026
Telescope Alignment & Focus
Optical Telescope Assembly · L+45d → L+72d
scheduledWavefront sensing on a star field drives the secondary mirror actuators until the point-spread function converges on its diffraction-limited shape across the full 0.28 square-degree field.
Planned steps: Fine guidance sensor locked on a star · Coarse focus sweep · Wavefront error below 90 nm RMS · Field-dependent aberrations mapped
Planned window 14 Oct 2026 → 10 Nov 2026
Wide Field Instrument Checkout
WFI · L+12d → L+100d
scheduledAll eighteen H4RG detectors are exercised through every element of the filter wheel. Flat fields, darks, gain and linearity are measured to build the first flight calibration reference files. Activated 11 Sep 2026, during cooldown.
- Wide Field Instrument activated · 11 Sept 2026 · NASA ↗
- First photons · 15 Sept 2026 · NASA ↗
- Fine guidance verified · 21 Sept 2026 · NASA ↗
Planned steps: All 18 SCAs reading out · First photons on the focal plane · Filter wheel full sweep · Photometric zero points established · Grism and prism dispersion solved
Planned window 11 Sept 2026 → 08 Dec 2026
Coronagraph Technology Demo
CGI · L+75d → L+105d
scheduledThe Coronagraph Instrument's deformable mirrors run their dark-hole digging algorithm, suppressing starlight to demonstrate the contrast future missions will need to image Earth-like planets.
- Coronagraph powered on · 01 Sept 2026 · NASA ↗
- Coronagraph's first observation · 22 Sept 2026 · NASA ↗
Planned steps: Deformable mirrors responsive · Dark hole convergence · Contrast floor measured
Planned window 13 Nov 2026 → 13 Dec 2026
First Light & Early Release
Science Operations · L+100d → L+110d
scheduledThe first science-grade images are taken, processed and released publicly — the observatory's formal introduction.
Planned steps: First-light exposure · Pipeline end-to-end run · Early Release Observations published
Planned window 08 Dec 2026 → 18 Dec 2026
Science Operations
Science Operations · L+110d → L+1825d
scheduledThe Core Community Surveys begin. Data flows to the archive continuously and becomes public immediately — there is no proprietary period on Roman survey data.
Planned steps: High Latitude Wide Area Survey underway · Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey underway · High Latitude Time Domain Survey underway
Planned window 18 Dec 2026 → 29 Aug 2031