New Delhi, Aug. 30 -- NASA's newest space telescope, the $4.3 billion Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, blasted off on Sunday (August 30) aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, beginning a mission designed to transform scientists' understanding of planets, galaxies and the mysterious forces shaping the universe.

The bus-sized telescope lifted off shortly after daybreak from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It is now headed toward an observation point about 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometres) from Earth, where NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is also positioned.

Roman is expected to take more than three months to reach its destination. Once operational, it will survey huge portions of the cosmos at a speed and scale unmatched...