OUTERSPACE TODAYNEWS
← All editionsMonday, August 31, 2026 / Issue 066
[ OST Daily ]

Roman Space Telescope Launches on Falcon Heavy, Trump Orders a U.S. Space Academy, and Gilat Lines Up a $100M Convertible

Outerspace Today6 min read / 2026-08-31
OST Daily August 31, 2026 — NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off at 7:26 a.m. EDT on August 30 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A and is now on a three-month cruise to the Sun-Earth L2 point, President Trump awarded the Artemis II crew the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and signed an executive order to design a NASA-led U.S. Space Academy, Gilat Satellite Networks accepted commitments for about $100 million of 3.75% convertible notes, and NASA put SpaceX Crew-13 on hold after an oxidizer leak turned up in Dragon's propulsion system.
The daily pictureOST editorial illustration · 2026-08-31
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The briefing

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off at 7:26 a.m. EDT on August 30 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A, beginning a three-month cruise to the Sun-Earth L2 point on a mission NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said was delivered ahead of schedule and on budget. Roman pairs a 2.4-meter L3Harris-built Optical Telescope Assembly, originally a spare spy-satellite telescope, with a 300-megapixel Wide Field Instrument and a coronagraph demonstrator that will inform the Habitable Worlds Observatory. It will downlink about 1.4 terabytes a day, with ESA supplying star trackers, batteries, coronagraph detectors and its New Norcia antenna.

The launch capped a week in which the White House leaned harder into civil space. President Trump awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen at Johnson Space Center on August 28, then signed an executive order directing Isaacman to chair a commission that will design a NASA-led U.S. Space Academy and report back within 120 days. Trump also dialed into NASA's post-launch briefing on Sunday, a step presidents historically have not taken.

In financing, Gilat Satellite Networks accepted commitments from Israeli institutional investors for about $100 million of senior unsecured 3.75% convertible notes due September 1, 2031, convertible at $16.00 a share, a 60% premium to the August 28 Nasdaq close of $9.94, with closing expected September 1. Boeing renewed a $3.0 billion 364-day revolving credit facility with Citibank and JPMorgan on August 24. On operations, NASA put SpaceX Crew-13 on hold after an oxidizer leak was found in Dragon's propulsion system during prelaunch checks, and Highlands and Islands Enterprise bought the assets of Orbex's Sutherland Spaceport subsidiary from its liquidators.

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The headlines

01

Roman Space Telescope launches on Falcon Heavy from Kennedy

SpaceX

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off at 7:26 a.m. EDT on August 30 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A, beginning a three-month journey to the Sun-Earth L2 point about one million miles from Earth. The $4.3 billion flagship pairs a 300-megapixel Wide Field Instrument with a Coronagraph technology demonstrator, will downlink about 1.4 terabytes a day, and is designed to survey the infrared sky roughly 1,000 times faster than Hubble.

02

L3Harris optical assembly and Canadian cameras ride with Roman

SpaceX LHX

L3Harris confirmed that its 2.4-meter Optical Telescope Assembly, built at roughly one-fourth the mass of Hubble's mirror, and radiation-hardened electronics are on board Roman and will operate about one million miles from Earth. Canadian suppliers Nüvü Camēras and ABB provided the ExCam and LoCam detectors for the Coronagraph Instrument, which will test direct-imaging techniques aimed at supporting NASA's future Habitable Worlds Observatory.

03

Trump awards Artemis II crew and orders a U.S. Space Academy

President Trump presented the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to Artemis II astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen at Johnson Space Center on August 28, then signed an executive order establishing a Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy chaired by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. The commission has 120 days to recommend governance, curriculum, service obligations and location for a NASA-led academy modeled on the service academies.

04

NASA holds SpaceX Crew-13 after Dragon oxidizer leak

SpaceX

NASA announced on August 29 that the SpaceX Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is on hold after an oxidizer leak was found in Dragon's propulsion system during standard prelaunch checks. The launch had been scheduled for September 12, and NASA said a new target date will be announced once the review is complete. Crew-13 carries NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.

05

Lockheed Martin tests second flight of low-cost JR3 training rocket

LMT

Lockheed Martin announced a second successful flight test of its Joint Reduced Range Rocket at Yuma Proving Ground on August 28, launching multiple training rounds from a reusable launch pod and demonstrating range, trajectory, accuracy and marking payload effects. JR3 is designed to replace the current Reduced Range Practice Rocket for the U.S. Army and allied users at lower cost.

06

Roman lifts off on a mission to survey the infrared sky

SpaceX

Image: NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, at 07:26 EDT / 12:26 BST/ 13:26 CEST on 30 August 2026. With the successful launch, Roman began its mission to survey the sky in visible to near-infrared light to help reveal the nature of dark energy and dark matter.

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Research

01

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Lifts Off to Open New Insights Into the Universe

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off this morning on a mission to find more planets around other stars in the universe and solve the mysteries of dark energy [ ]

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Market pulse

Archived snapshot from this edition. Prices and moves are not live.

Gainers+29
Decliners-16
Big mover TSAT+5.4%
AssetSnapshotMoveTrend
TSATTelesat$46.44+5.4%
VOYGVoyager Space$34.19+4.6%
GLWCorning$152.00+4.1%
FJETStarfighters Space$2.705-2.7%
SIDUSidus Space$2.075-2.1%
ETLEutelsat€1.798-1.9%
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Launch watch

Schedule and countdowns as recorded in the 2026-08-31 edition.

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Filings

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