Solar plane takes off on round-the-world journey

Swiss adventurers will fly solar aircraft for 120 hours with stops across the globe to promote clean energy

Solar plane
(Image credit: BBC)

A Swiss Solar plane has taken off from Abu Dhabi in a record-breaking attempt to fly around the world without any fuel.

Aviation pioneers Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg took off at 7:12am (4:12am GMT) from the UAE's Al-Bateen airport in the Solar Impulse-2, a revolutionary aircraft powered only by the sun.

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