LightSail has finally seen the light. After a tumultuous time in lower Earth orbit, the Planetary Society's solar sail use energy released from the Sun to propel the satellite forward. Now that they're deployed, the sails won't actually be doing any sailing, but for the Planetary Society, it's nice to know that their engineering does indeed work.

Things are on hold for the moment for the LightSail, the new solar sail spacecraft launched last week by Bill Nye and his Planetary Society organization. The prototype satellite, which uses energy from the Sun to propel through space has suffered a computer malfunction while in lower Earth orbit, ceasing communication between the tiny spacecraft and Earth.

The Planetary Society is about to bring one of Carl Sagan's dreams to life. On May 20, the non-profit scientific organization--run by “Science Guy” Bill Nye--will be sending their LightSail spacecraft into lower Earth orbit for a 30-day test run. LightSail is essentially what it sounds like: a large sail that runs on sunlight. For this test, the Planetary Society will send up a tiny CubeSat that will deploy 32 meters² of Mylar, and this “solar sail” can theoretically use renewable energy from the sun to propel the satellite through space.

It's not often that I'm waiting to order a drink at the bar next to Bill Nye. But on the rare occasion that this does happen, as it did this past Thursday evening, I knew we were on the verge of something big.

Editor's note: Our profile of Bill Nye [September 2014] elicited an impassioned response from readers. We received more than 100 letters, many from readers grappling with how to reconcile scientific concepts like climate change with religion. We asked climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, an evangelical Christian, why science doesn't have to conflict with faith.

Amid chants of "Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!, the Science Guy himself logged on to Reddit yesterday afternoon to answer questions about science, his childhood, his favorite experiments, and a human mission to Mars. Despite a weird Gillette plug in his opening post, Bill Nye's latest AMA turned out to be just as fun as the one he hosted last year.