See other posts from October 2010

Lightsail-1 Lands on National Mall

Posted by Susan Lendroth

2010/10/23 10:03 CDT

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by Susan Lendroth

The Planetary Society showcased our solar sail mission, Lightsail-1, at day one of the USA Science & Engineering Festival on Washington DC's National Mall. Engineers Chris Biddy and Justin Jang from our Lightsail team explained the mission to curious visitors while Monical Lopez, Marketing and Interactive Manager, took photos of people to send aboard the spacecraft when Lightsail-1 launches in 2011. The line to meet Bill Nye stretched across the Mall and never seemed to grow shorter!
stronaut John Grunsfeld, whose five shuttle missions include three trips to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, dropped by our booth to sign autographs as well. It was a great day, and we will be repeating it tomorrow, Sunday, October 24, when Bill returns to the booth from 10:00-11:00 am and appears on stage at Freedom Plaza at noon.

Astronaut John Grunsfeld and Bill Nye

Astronaut John Grunsfeld and Bill Nye hold a replica of the Lightsail 1 and stand before a 1/4 scale model of the deployed solar sail.

The Line to Meet Bill

Chris and Justin explain how the solar sail works.