Solar-Powered Plane Successfully Crosses Pacific Ocean, Lands in California
The plane took off from Hawaii Thursday.
— -- A solar-powered airplane's journey across the Pacific Ocean ended Saturday with a successful landing in Mountain View, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Swiss aeronaut Bertrand Piccard landed the Solar Impulse 2 at Moffett Airfield at 11:45 p.m. PST after 62 hours of flying without fuel.
The plane, which left Hawaii on Thursday bound for California, was just a part of two pilots' attempt at flying around the world in a solar plane.
The trip began in March 2015 from Abu Dhabi and then stopped in Oman, Myanmar, China and Japan, before flying over the Pacific Ocean and reaching Hawaii in July 2015.
Solar Impulse, the organization behind the voyages, was founded by Piccard and Swiss businessman and pilot André Borschberg. The duo hopes the flights will "promote clean technology solutions to solve climate change."
"If an airplane can fly day and night without fuel, everybody could use these same technologies on the ground to save natural resources and improve quality of life," their website states.
The Solar Impulse plane runs exclusively on energy harnessed from the sun; the energy is stored in batteries on the aircraft. It is the world's "only airplane of perpetual endurance," meaning it is able to fly both day and night without re-fueling.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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