LIGHTSAIL 2 IMAGE OF AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN This image taken by The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 spacecraft on May 31, 2021 shows Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Arabian Sea. The Caspian Sea is at lower left. The shadows of the spacecraft's solar panels can be seen on the sail. North is approximately at the top left. This image has been color-adjusted and some distortion from the camera’s 180-degree fisheye lens has been removed. Credit: The Planetary Society
Even after 30 months in space, The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 mission continues to successfully “sail on sunbeams” demonstrating solar sail technology in Earth orbit. The mission is providing hard data for future missions that hope to employ solar sails to explore the cosmos.
The Falcon Heavy STP-2 mission launched from Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, June 25, 2019. Image Credit: Alex Brock
Instagram: @alexhbrock, Website: www.alexhbrock.com
In what Elon Musk is calling their “most difficult” mission so far, SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy rocket for the third time. The launch took place at 2:30 am ET Tuesday from a launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission was called STP-2, and Universe Today sent a photographer to capture all the action.
