The rocket carried 24 experimental satellites into orbit, in what the company called one of its most difficult launches. The launch took place at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was dubbed Space Test Program 2 and was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Defense. CGTN's John Zerella has more from Florida.

This was the third flight and the first night launch of the Space X Falcon Heavy rocket.

"Three, two, one."

Tucked inside, a virtual warehouse full of satellites 24 in all for the U.S. military, the U.S. space agency NASA and private institutions. One of the tiniest hitching a ride to orbit is called a CubeSat. It's no bigger than a loaf of bread. But, it could revolutionize space travel.

"Oh yes, yes, yes."

What you are seeing is the itsy bitsy satellite, during testing in California, unfurling a 32-square meter solar sail made from reflective mylar. The brainchild of the nonprofit Planetary Society that promotes space exploration, the satellite, funded by donations, is called LightSail Two. It is called LightSail because that's exactly what it does. It sails on sunlight. About two weeks from now in a 720-kilometer high orbit, the spacecraft will deploy its solar sail. Particles from the sun called photons will push on the sail giving it momentum. Bill Nye, known on television as "The Science Guy", is head of the Planetary Society.

BILL NYE CEO, THE PLANETARY SOCIETY "If we have a spacecraft that's low enough in mass and big and reflective enough then photons can give it a little push. Each photon imparts just a tiny bit of momentum but, the sun pumps out billions and billions of them every second."

If it works, the solar photons will exert enough pressure on the sail to raise the spacecraft's orbit making it the first to ever change orbit using only sunlight for propulsion.

JOHN ZARELLA CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA "Scientists and engineers believe sailing on sunlight could one day eliminate the need for expensive and dangerous chemical rockets that eventually run out of fuel. And they say with the sun constantly providing momentum, a solar sail spacecraft could fly at a speed of 240-thousand kilometers per hour. You could fly around the solar system really fast and, put it this way, never run out of gas."

As the name implies, there was a LightSail 1. It flew four years ago as a technology demonstration. This grainy video shows it streaking across the sky. Nearly a decade ago, the Japanese space agency successfully tested a solar sail in deep space. In a few years, NASA is planning to use a solar sail to explore a near earth asteroid. The future may well be sailing on sunbeams. John Zarrella, CGTN, Cape Canaveral, Florida.