Borschberg navigates alone in an unheated and unpressurized cockpit, sleeping in bursts of 20 minutes while on autopilot.
Addressing the pilot on a live online broadcast from the Solar Impulse Mission Control Center in Monaco, an ecstatic Peter Frei, head of the project’s conceptual design and aerodynamics, congratulated the team on 12 years of work culminating in what he called a historic moment.
“Andre, what you did is unbelievable,” Frei said. “I can’t even imagine what it takes to be five days up there, with so little sleep and such a complex and crippled aircraft.”
Studies, design and construction took 12 years and a first version of the plane rolled out in 2009 and broke records for heights and distances traveled by a manned solar plane.
The plane was created in order to encourage governments to replace pollutants with clean technology.
“Our airplane has not been built to carry passengers but to convey a message,” says Piccard.
(Reporting by Karen Brooks in Austin, Texas- Editing by Grant McCool)
0 comments
Share
