Solar-powered plane takes off on a historic round-the-world flight [1]

Swiss-made, 100% solar-powered airplane took off from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Monday, March 9, 2015 in a first ever attempt to fly around the world in a plane powered entirely by energy received from the Sun.

On the same day, the plane successfully completed the first of 12 parts of its trip, flying from Abu Dhabi to Muscat, Oman. It was a relatively easy part that lasted 13 hours but the real challenges are yet to come; like the stretch from Nanjing, China to Hawaii, a 8 000 km (5 000 miles) journey of some 120 hours or 5 days.

At 02:35 UTC today, the plane took off on its second flight, from Muscat to Ahmedabad, India. This part is 1 465 km long (910 miles) and the estimated flight time is 16 hours.