Status: commissioning
Roman Space Telescope First Images: When They’re Coming and What to Expect
NASA expects to share the first images from the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in early 2027. This page turns into the first-images gallery automatically the moment NASA publishes them.
- Mission day
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- Distance from Earth
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- Phase
- Commissioning
- Checks NASA
- Every 15 minutes
What will the first images show?
Roman’s team has set aside roughly 12 to 24 hours of commissioning time for “First Look” observations — about three to five programs chosen for public appeal and to show what the Wide Field Instrument can do. Scientists around the world were invited to suggest targets.
Because every Roman exposure spans about 1.5 times the area of the full Moon at Hubble-like sharpness, expect panoramas packed with thousands of galaxies or millions of stars — images you can zoom into for a very long time.
Why not right away?
After launch on August 30, 2026, Roman spends about three months travelling to L2 while engineers switch on, cool down, align and calibrate its systems. The first public images follow that commissioning period.
How to see them first
- Bookmark this page — it switches to the gallery on its own.
- Subscribe to the RSS feed for every new Roman image.
- Watch Mission Control for Roman’s live progress.
WFIRST renamed for Nancy Grace Roman
NASA names its next flagship survey telescope after its first Chief of Astronomy.
Observatory complete
Roman is fully assembled at NASA Goddard and begins final environmental testing.
Encapsulated
Roman is sealed inside the Falcon Heavy payload fairing at Kennedy Space Center.
Launch
Liftoff at 7:26 a.m. EDT on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. Solar panels and sunshade deploy about 83 minutes later.
Antenna and aperture cover deployed
NASA confirms the high-gain antenna and visor-like aperture cover are deployed; commissioning is under way.
Arrival at L2
After a roughly three-month cruise Roman settles into a halo orbit around Sun–Earth L2.
(next milestone)First images
NASA expects to share Roman’s first images in early 2027, after commissioning and calibration.
Science operations begin
Core community surveys start, with every observation made public as soon as it is processed.
While you wait: simulated Roman views
All simulations →
First images FAQ
When will the Roman Space Telescope release its first images?
NASA expects to share Roman’s first images in early 2027, after about three months of commissioning that overlaps with the cruise to L2. The first public set will come from a short ‘First Look’ program of roughly three to five observations chosen for public appeal and to show off the telescope’s capabilities. Roman Atlas checks NASA every 15 minutes and will show them as soon as they are posted.
When did the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launch?
Roman launched on August 30, 2026, at 7:26 a.m. EDT aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Where is the Roman Space Telescope now?
Roman is travelling to, or orbiting, the second Sun–Earth Lagrange point (L2), about 1 million miles (1.5 million km) from Earth on the side opposite the Sun. Our Mission Control page shows its live distance and speed from NASA/JPL Horizons.
Are Roman’s images free to use?
Roman’s data will be made public as soon as it is processed, with no exclusive period. Most NASA imagery is not copyrighted, but some images include work from partners; always check the credit line on each image. Roman Atlas links every image to its NASA source page.