On the morning of Thursday, July 8, the HB-SIA aircraft of the Swiss Solar Impulse project returned to the same airport from which it had embarked 26 hours earlier. With its most recent flight in April lasting for 87 minutes, this journey of more than a day was achieved as the aircraft gathered solar power through its 12,000 cells during daylight hours to then continue flying through the night without any external fuel.

Calling the flight “gorgeous,” pilot Andre Borschberg stated, “It was unbelievable, success better than we expected.” Swiss entrepreneur and Solar Impulse founder Bertrand Piccard plans a zero-emission trans-Atlantic flight next, followed by a trip around the world by 2013, with the hope being to usher in an age of environmentally friendly air travel.