LightSail - Flying to Other Worlds on Sunlight

  Greetings to the Global Giving community!

We’ve been hearing recently from Planetary Society members and donors who have heard varying information about the first commercial flight the Space X Falcon Heavy rocket, and whether or not our LightSail spacecraft will be aboard.

 The upcoming launch of the Falcon Heavy scheduled on April 7 is not the flight of our LightSail spacecraft. At one time we were slated to be part of the "first commercial flight” of the Falcon Heavy, but as part of the Air Force's STP-2 mission, we’ve been moved to the second Falcon Heavy commercial flight.

 At present, our STP-2 launch is scheduled "no earlier than" the first week of June. However, we don't expect that date to be met due to the likelihood of further delays in the scheduled launch of a communications satellite called Arabsat. As soon as we see the successful launch of Arabsat, including the recovery of all three rocket cores, we can begin to look at realistic launch date scenarios. At present, that might mean June but for a number of reasons, we are guessing that it will be more like July at the earliest.  

 In the meantime, we do have preliminary plans developed for the launch experience that will encompass a variety of experience packages, but we cannot finalize them until we get a firm date (the hotels and conference venues we will be using all need firm dates for contracts). We will share all of that information widely with all of our members and Kickstarter backers once we can finalize the plans.

 After four long years of waiting, we are cautiously optimistic that we will launch in just a few months’ time.  Our spacecraft is good and ready!  Sincere thanks to all of you who have supported our LightSail project – this truly IS citizen-funded flight by light, and together we are helping to change the world!

Links:

• Space.com talks about the Falcon Heavy rocket.