Solar Impulse Reaches Chongqing, China

Bertrand Piccard, who was at the controls of Solar Impulse, successfully landed at the Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, China, on Tuesday 31 March. He took off from Mandalay, Myanmar, on Monday 30 March at 3:36am local time (9:06pm GMT, 29 March) and landed in China 20 hours and 29  minutes later, thus having flown 1,459 km. It is the first time that a single-seater solar airplane enters China.

The flight was challenging for Piccard, who had to spend a large part of the flight at high altitude due to the Chinese mountains above which the zero-fuel aircraft flew. He had to wear an oxygen mask and to face temperature descending to minus 20 degrees Celsius. 

The next leg of the Round-The-World Mission will bring Solar Impulse to Nanjing, with André Borschberg at command.

(Photo credit: Solar Impulse)