Launch Watch

Roman launches Sunday — what to actually watch for

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to fly Sunday at 11:26 UTC on a Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center — and there are a few reasons this one is worth setting an alarm for. Falcon Heavy flights are rare. Most SpaceX launches are a single Falcon 9; the Heavy straps three boosters together and only flies when the payload demands it. If the side boosters return to the Cape, you get the double landing — two boosters touching down side by side minutes after liftoff. The payload is a decade of astronomy in one fairing. Roman is a wide-field infrared survey telescope, named for NASA's first chief of astronomy. Its field of view is enormous compared to Hubble's — it's built to survey, not to stare — and its two headline jobs are dark energy and exoplanets. How to watch here: the firing room at /mission-control has the countdown, the sequence of events, and the watch party chat. Make your call on the launch page before the window opens and see how you score against everyone else once it flies. What are you watching for? First Heavy you've seen live? Say so below. — the Everything Space desk