Julie Townsend, JPL Engineer, talks about her experiences to teachers and middle school students during the kick off of NASA's Summer of Innovation program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., Thursday, June 10, 2010. Through the program, NASA will engage thousands of middle school students and teachers in stimulating math and science-based education programs with the goal of increasing the number of future scientists, mathematicians, and engineers. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

From left, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Rice University Electrical and Engineering Student Max Paul, Former Maryland Lieutenant Governor and niece of President John F. Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Apollo 11 Astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins all pose for a photograph in front of the NASA Ambassador of Exploration Award given posthumously to President John F. Kennedy and accepted on behalf of the Kennedy family by Townsend at the Apollo 40th anniversary celebration held at the National Air and Space Museum, Monday, July 20, 2009 in Washington. The award will be on permanent display at Rice University at the request of the Kennedy family. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Former Maryland Lieutenant Governor and niece of President John F. Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend speaks at the Apollo 40th anniversary celebration held at the National Air and Space Museum, Monday, July 20, 2009 in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Former Maryland Lieutenant Governor and niece of President John F. Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend speaks at the Apollo 40th anniversary celebration held at the National Air and Space Museum, Monday, July 20, 2009 in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Former Maryland Lieutenant Governor and niece of President John F. Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend speaks at the Apollo 40th anniversary celebration held at the National Air and Space Museum, Monday, July 20, 2009 in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Former Maryland Lieutenant Governor and niece of President John F. Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend speaks As Neil Armstrong, Background, and others approach the stage at the Apollo 40th anniversary celebration held at the National Air and Space Museum, Monday, July 20, 2009 in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

From left, George Alderman, NASA Deputy Press Secretary; NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman; Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington; Jackie Townsend, Roman telescope project manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; and Julie McEnery, Roman telescope senior project scientist, NASA Goddard participate in a postlaunch news conference for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope inside the NASA News Center’s John Holliman Auditorium at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026. Roman will investigate dark energy and dark matter, conduct a statistical census of planetary systems, and enable a broad range of additional astrophysics research. Liftoff of Roman atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket occurred at 7:26 a.m. EDT Sunday, Aug. 30, from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A.

From left, George Alderman, NASA Deputy Press Secretary; NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman; Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington; Jackie Townsend, Roman telescope project manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; Julie McEnery, Roman telescope senior project scientist, NASA Goddard; and Denton Gibson, launch director, NASA’s Launch Services Program, Kennedy Space Center in Florida, participate in a postlaunch news conference for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope inside the NASA News Center’s John Holliman Auditorium at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026. Roman will investigate dark energy and dark matter, conduct a statistical census of planetary systems, and enable a broad range of additional astrophysics research. Liftoff of Roman atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket occurred at 7:26 a.m. EDT Sunday, Aug. 30, from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A.