First Solar-Powered Flight

July 27, 2016

The very first round-the-world trip by a solar-powered aircraft has been completed.

Solar Impulse 2 touched down in Abu Dhabi after a journey around planet Earth that begun in March 2015, fuelled entirely by energy from the sun

Pilot Bertrand Piccard safely landed the jet for its final touch-down after travelling from Cairo.

He has shared the controls with fellow pilot André Borschberg throughout the pioneering and record-breaking circumnavigation.

The final landing brings to an end an epic 17-stage journey, covering 42,000 km and clocking up 558 hours of flight time.

Solar Impulse 2 has the wingspan of a Boeing 747, but weighs little more than the average car.

It has a cockpit the size of a telephone box, and its wings are covered with 17,000 solar cells, allowing it to fly day and night without fuel.

The two Swiss pilots hope their milestone achievement will pave the way for the creation of new energy efficient technologies, and inspire new clean-energy innovations.

Solar Impulse 2 lands with pilot Andre Boschberg at the helm to finish the first leg of its historic round-the-world journey that began in Abu Dhabi on 9 March 2015. (Jean Revillard via Getty Images)

Solar Impulse prepares to take off for the third of its 17 journeys that made up its round-the-world trip. This leg crossed India from Ahmedebad to Varanasi. (Solar Impulse/Revillard/Rezo.ch)