Cosmos 1 is an attempt to conduct the first flight in space using a solar sail as the primary propulsion system to move away from Earth. As with any first attempt in the annals of exploration, success is not guaranteed. But it cannot happen unless we try. Solar sailing is the pathway to the stars – the only technology known today leading to interstellar flight. The Planetary Society’s vision motivates us: To explore new worlds and seek other life. The Society is the first space interest group to conduct a space mission; it is one that we hope will prove historic as an attempt to take humankind’s first step to the stars. We are deeply proud and appreciative of the support from Cosmos Studios, which made this project possible, and of our team of engineers and scientists, principally from the Babakin Space Center and Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, with whom we are working on this mission.

Louis Friedman
The Planetary Society