The LightSail mission belongs to all of us
245 likes

Replay with sound
Dear Planetary Explorers -
WOOHOO!!!
We did it! Together. Because of you, we met our final stretch goal on our way to a successful LightSail mission in 2016. Our spacecraft will fly on Falcon Heavy to a higher orbit where we will demonstrate true solar sailing.
This mission now belongs to all of us. Thank you.
Let's change the world!

P.S. We will begin the post-campaign surveys soon. Watch for that process to begin in the weeks ahead.
William J Hall on
Hi Bill Nye. I'm in hot water with the wife after donating a $1,000 and leaving her home alone with our five kids to see the launch.Think she's more jealous then mad LOL. Cant wait to meet you and watch the Falcon Heavy launch, Going to be one of the most amazing moments in my life. Thank you for this.
Nicolas T. on
Yay.
Michael Moon on
My first project to support on kickstarter. Glad I was able to put in my little bit for such an important project. I am proud to be part of this community. Thanks Bill Nye for getting this out there.
Vicki Fawcett-Adams on
Carl Sagan would be proud of your efforts, Bill Nye, and it is like you are walking in his footsteps. He sat next to me in Bailey Hall at Cornell University once during a lecture and he was about as down to Earth as a person could get-who knew his head was always in the clouds!! (affectionately said)
iarejester on
I'm very happy to have been able to help. I would love to see lightsail spacecraft zipping around the solar system in the future.
Tyrone Lambert on
I'd like to propose we christen the first true Light Sail Starship the L.S.S Carl Sagan
Tyrone Lambert on
Outstanding!
coder1000 on
Congratulations!!
Melissa Malanowski-Johnson on
YEAH!!!
Adam Florizone & Alicia Bloomfield on
Woot!
Meghann Jaquette on
<3
Jordan Joestar on
Yay!!!
Nick Roberts (the Ranting Thespian) on
I have only backed a handful of Kickstarter campaigns, and I am proud to count this as one of them.
Christian Valenzuela on
Yeeeee of course I'd support my nigga, Bill Nye!
Deb Zander on
This is a kickstarter that I am extremely proud to be a part of and very excite to watch happen. Also I own part of a spaceship. -squee-
Yang Vue on
This is the first time I pledge a project on kickstarter. So excited for the new age of solar sail. Let's make history together.
Ben Alofs on
I am very happy and proud to be one of the 23.331 people to support this wonderful project. Let's sail away into space next year!
Kawaiipain on
So proud to be part of this, Bill! Let's change the world!!
ShadowCub
Superbacker
on
The age of the mighty Sailing Ship is back!
I am LightSail!
Allen Hansen on
I'm honored to be apart of this! thank you to everyone involved with this project, it's pretty amazing! can't wait to see what happens, and help in any way I can.
MultaeKappae
Superbacker
on
Here's to the dawn of the next Golden Age of Sail
Christian Daniel Duggan on
So happy I could contribute to this project. While I am no expert scientist or even a decent scientist, I love looking up information about planets and such, especially the infinite possibilities about exoplanets. I love coming across information such as the size and the period of time Jupiter's red spot has been active and thinking "I can't even imagine that here."
Thanks again, Bill Nye and all of the team making this possible.
AAW Games on
Thank YOU Bill!
Extra special thanks to the great Carl Sagan for dreaming big and passing on his dreams to the next generation.
Ryan Lee on
Congrats Lightsail team and Bill Nye!
Dustin Alexander on
Thank you for helping to keep science at the forefront of people's minds and allowing us to dream!
Bill Nye, CEO, The Planetary Society 2-time creator on
@Ian - no sneaky revision. We actually worked-up a budget in consultation with our Program Manager, Doug Stetson, and put that out as the stretch goal. The addition we needed above $1 million is, actually, $240,000. We have some additional budgeting yet to do for some spacecraft hardware, but those numbers were "hard" enough yet to include. We will do some additional private fundraising to meet the final total needed. Some folks would have expected us to simply round-up to the $1.25 mark, but we chose to call it straight. Thanks for raising the question!
Marc Mackin on
Say no to Vertical video, Bill Nye as a scientist you should know better.
Robert Araujo on
Glad to be part of this project!
Jesse on
Excited to be a part of this project and the Planetary Society! Go LightSail!
Tomas Pokorny on
Superb, thank to You!
William Meyer on
Thank you Bill Nye, and congratulations fellow explorers! More to come!
Shawn Duffy on
I feel very privileged to be part of the future. Thank you to all my fellow backers and the entire team working on the project itself. :D
Orlando Everett on
Awesome! Congrats, Bill and everyone!
Tor Lin on
my sentiment may be a bit petty but I'd rather spend my money here, advancing science, than (taxed) to be turned into bombs to be dropped around the world.
Brett Dworaczyk
Superbacker
on
It's obvious how much this project means to Bill and the rest of us. Keep up the good work everybody!
Stacey Uy on
Carl Sagan would be so proud to see a community like this one coming together for the greater good of space exploration. Congratulations and thank you Planetary Society!
Jorge Arturo Colorado on
"The human adventure is just beginning"
Emily Stemmerich
Superbacker
on
Woot! Congratulations! So glad I get to be a tiny part of this project. Thank you!
Jorge Otero on
Woohooo!! Great job Bill!
Thomas Wyaux on
YES!!
Jose Manuel Garcia on
We did it! I'm so happy!, Congratulations to all that have helped to make it possible
Kunal Tengase on
Congratulations to all and good luck to the LighSail team for a successful mission.
Azarenkov Kirill on
Its will be great, if humans think nore about space and science vice versa war and politics.... if that happens, all of us will live more happy, that now.
Mr. Howland on
Not the final frontier....the next frontier!
Patrick Tessier on
And that... Is how it's done.
Spiritunicorn on
Yay!
Natashia B Sartain on
Yay! So exciting!
TaTuMy on
\m/(-_-)\m/
s p a c e
So excited to be a part of this.
Yay #LightSail
Kurt P Brown on
Very glad this got it's funding. This is going to be a very cool project! Can't wait to see it do it's stuff in space!
Jeff E. Fuller on
Well the change from 1.25 to 1.24 I think has to do with the 100k that is being matched? So they were able to revise the amount actually needed.