NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, beginning a million‑mile journey into deep space to study exoplanets and planet formation. NASA said the telescope survived two proposed White House budget cuts. The $4.3 billion observatory lifted off at 9:45 a.m. local time and will travel to the Sun‑Earth L2 Lagrange point to conduct surveys of distant planetary systems, assess planet formation, and characterize exoplanet atmospheres. The mission is expected to operate for at least five years, providing data that will inform models of planetary system development and the potential habitability of exoplanets.