Inside the room where NASA built the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is designed to capture enormous images faster than any other space telescope has before. But first NASA must keep earthly contamination away.

GREENBELT, Md. — When visiting a $4.3 billion space telescope, cleanliness is paramount. Entering the clean room where NASA built its Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope requires an eight-step process in three separate rooms to clean you from hair to shoes. The agency has spared no effort to keep its next-generation observatory free from earthly contamination ahead of a planned launch in August.

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