NASA's Roman Space Telescope is ready for launch aboard SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

A new flagship observatory is about to launch to space and join the ranks of its powerful predecessors, like the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes.

NASA's groundbreaking new Nancy Roman Grace Space Telescope is ready to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

It's scheduled to depart from Launch Complex-39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, bound for a gravitationally stable spot in space called Lagrange Point 2, or L2, nearly 1 million miles (1.6 million km) from Earth .

The spacecraft's first window for launch is tomorrow (Aug 30) at 7:26 a.m.

EDT (1126 GMT).

Mission managers and launch administrators held a prelaunch briefing on Saturday (Aug.

29), confirming NASA and SpaceX's "go" to proceed toward tomorrow's lift off.

Weather tomorrow currently poses a 50% chance of favorable launch conditions, according to launch weather officer Justin McReynolds of the Space Force 's 45th Weather Squadron.

Roman's final L2 destination will place the spacecraft in a persistent position on the opposite side of Earth from the sun .

"That means that we have a wide open view of the sky that really exceeds anything in low Earth orbit like Hubble could achieve," Jackie Townsend, Roman's project manager, said during the press conference.

Once in space and operational, Roman will begin completing wide surveys of the entire universe, taking thousands of images every day.

The telescope will also allow for new research into dark matter and dark energy , and it will directly image exoplanets around distant stars .

"Nancy Grace Space Telescope will blow your mind.

It is the size of a tour bus, and it weighs the same as a T-Rex," Nicky Fox, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA, said during the press conference.