On Tuesday, June 24th, 2019, the world’s most powerful rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The SpaceX Falcon was carrying 24 different satellites and cremated remains for 152 people. Part of this mission, the Space Test Program-2, was to successfully deliver LightSail-2 into space. “A week after launch, the massive sails will spread out and begin using sunlight to lift the cubesat into a higher orbit. The goal is to reach 450 miles above Earth, which would make LightSail-2 the first solar sail to use only the power of sunlight to enter a high orbit. It would then orbit Earth for about a year,” according to Shannon Stirone from the New York Times. If the LightSail-2 turns out to be fruitful, it would lead to major beneficial implications in space exploration such as solar sailing to limit fuel consumption.
Watch the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon.