On 7 August 2007, Solar departed from the Thales Alenia Space facility in Turin, Italy, where it was built. Carried inside a 3-m cube transport container, Solar was first taken by road to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The journey continued by air from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport over the weekend of 11 & 12 August. Following customs clearance at Miami airport on Monday 13 August, the container completed the last leg of the journey by road.