On May 3, Swiss psychiatrist and adventurer Bertrand Piccard settled into the one-man cockpit of a spindly plane with the wingspan of a 747. The propellers started, and he eased down the runway near San Francisco Bay. As the sun rose, he turned southeast toward Phoenix, 18 hours and 18 minutes away.
On a Wing and a Photon: Solar Impulse Flies Across America
A solar-powered plane flies across the country to fire people up about renewable energy.
By Helen Fields
Jan 7, 2014 6:24 PMNov 12, 2019 4:27 AM
Solar Impulse HB-SIA takes a test flight over San Francisco before a cross-country trip last summer. | Jean Revillard/Rezo/Solar Impulse/Polaris
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