Q&A with Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO

Using a donated Hubble-class mirror originally built for a spy satellite, NASA’s Roman Space Telescope launched Sunday on a $4.3 billion mission to open a new window on the universe. Liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy came at 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 UTC).

The mission features orbital transfer vehicles that are carrying 30 of the payloads with 14 being deployed after the initial mission launch. Liftoff from pad 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 10:49 a.m. PST (1:49 p.m. EST, 1849 UTC).

The U.S. Space Force expects to complete design validation on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket by July, ahead of the launch of the military’s first high-priority national security mission on the heavy-lifter late this year.