The Solar Impulse 2, with pilot Bertrand Piccard at the controls, landed in Chongqing, China just after 17:30 GMT today after departing Mandalay in Myanmar (Burma) about 20 hours earlier.
The team planned to only stop briefly in Chongqing before continuing to China’s eastern city of Nanjing, but weather issues have caused delays. The team will stay in southwest China until a window of desirable flight conditions opens up on the east coast in the coming days.
“Getting to the city of Nanjing would set up Solar Impulse to make its first big ocean crossing – a five-day, five-night flight to Hawaii,” reports the BBC.
The plane’s five-month journey of 22,000 miles (35,000 km) began in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The project is dedicated to focusing the world’s attention on sustainable energy.
The unprecedented attempt at the first flight around the world seeks to prove that flying is possible without using fossil fuel. No solar-powered plane has ever flown around the world before.
On its five-month journey, the engines will be powered only by solar energy.
In the image at the top of this blog post, Solar Impulse 2 is seen taking off at the Mandalay international airport on March 30, 2015. Pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg each took turns at the controls of the craft, which began its journey in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on March 9, as it makes its way in the first round-the-world solar-powered flight in about 25 flight days at speeds of between 30 mph to 60 mph (50 kph and 100 kph). [Picture taken with slow shutter speed. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun]
Above, ground staff prepare to push the solar powered plane into a hangar after it landed at the airport in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad March 11, 2015.
Below, two videos captured today on the Mandalay/Chongqing leg.
A view of the Solar Impulse 2 on flight after taking off from Al Bateen Airport in United Arab Emirates, on March 9, 2015.
Pilot Andre Boschberg (C) poses for a photo with a local man after he landed “Solar Impulse 2” in Muscat March 9, 2015.
Swiss pilots Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard (L) smile before flying the Solar Impulse 2, at Al Bateen airport in Abu Dhabi, March 9, 2015. [REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah]