Solar Impulse: One Giant Leap for Green Energy

 

As the U.S. East Coast enjoyed a lazy Sunday afternoon on June 28, an airplane took off from Nagoya, in central Japan, without any gas aboard. Four days later it’s still in the air, proceeding across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii at the stately pace of around 30 knots. Its pilot and lone occupant, André Borschberg, has already set the world record for longest-duration solo flight, and as of this afternoon he has nearly another day ahead of him at the controls. The weather is not cooperating. It is a tense time.