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Solar plane lands successfully in Goodyear

Posted at 6:42 AM, May 02, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-03 00:31:10-04

A solar-powered plane landed in Goodyear, Arizona, Monday night on the latest leg of its historic round-the-world journey.

Solar Impulse 2 took off from Mountain View (in northern California) shortly after 5 a.m. Monday for a 16-hour flight to the Valley. By midday it was crossing desert northwest of Los Angeles at an altitude of around 23,000 feet. 

The plane landed successfully in Goodyear just shy of 9 p.m.

Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg flew the plane, which began its globe-circling journey last year. Solar Impulse 2 flew from Hawaii to the Silicon Valley last week.

The wings of the plane are equipped with 17,000 solar cells that power propellers and charge batteries.

The plane will make two more stops in the United States before crossing the Atlantic.