Roman Mission Dress Rehearsal, Hangar X and AE

Dana Allender, senior launch operations manager with NASA’s Launch Services Program, participates in a mission dress rehearsal for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, inside SpaceX’s Hangar X at NASA Kennedy in Florida. Allender and other specialists served as an assessment team for personnel who ran through a full end-to-end simulation of every major step they will experience on launch day except liftoff, including powering up the spacecraft, fueling the rocket, conducting weather briefings, and other operations.