News Archive / Tagged: Bill Nye

• The saga of The Planetary Society’s LightSail-A

  Collin SkocikJune 14th, 2015

  On May 20, 2015, the Planetary Society’s LightSail-A was launched atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 501 booster from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida. An experimental minisatellite that tests the concept of the solar sail, the spacecraft’s mission is a dry run for LightSail-1, a full-fledged solar sailing […]

• AFSPC-5: Setting sail on wings of light

  Jason RhianMay 20th, 2015

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — With dire weather predictions as well as terror threats looming over Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41), the United States Air Force and United Launch Alliance unleashed the 501 version of the venerable Atlas V booster at 11:05 a.m. EDT (15:05 GMT) – the very opening of the first of two 10-minute long launch […]

• The Planetary Society’s million dollar quest for Solar Sailing

  Josh TallisMay 19th, 2015

  On June 21, 2005, Cosmos-1 bellowed out of the Russian submarine Borisoglebsk, a payload paid for by The Planetary Society, and the organization’s many members and supporters. Cosmos-1 was a prototype solar sail, a proof of concept mission with the potential to revolutionize the way unmanned probes are sent into space. Unfortunately, the rocket failed, and […]