After a long delay, the Solar Impulse 2 – an experimental plane fueled by clean technology – finally took off again from Hawaii early on the morning of April 21 to re-start its journey around the world.
CNN reported that the plane piloted by Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss explorer and psychiatrist, finally hit the runway this week after a nearly 10-month delay on the island of Oahu. The journey first began in March 2015 and was originally set to land in Abu Dhabi by the end of last summer.
After an unanticipated diversion to Japan during the initial phase of the journey, Swiss engineer Andre Borschberg, who take turns flying the plane with Piccard, set a new solo flight record. Last July, the flight from Japan to Hawaii took 117 hours and 52 minutes – breaking the record for the longest duration nonstop solo flight while also unintentionally causing extensive damage to the plane batteries.
Though it took nine months of repair, this week the plane was ready to begin the estimated 62-hour journey from the island to the Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View, California. Weighing about the same as a mid-size SUV with the wingspan of a Boeing 747, the solar-powered plane requires near-perfect weather conditions to fly, according to NPR.
Following several stops in the U.S., the team hopes to cross the Atlantic Ocean and return to the Middle East by late summer to complete the 27,000 mile trip around the world, all while promoting clean technology.
“We have built an experimental aircraft that we use to explore not only altitudes, but also unknown territories within the realm of clean technology and creative team building,” the team said in a statement.