By Mary Ann Barton
If you were up early Saturday morning, say around 4:46 a.m., you may have caught a glimpse of a special plane making a historic trip.
The Solar Impulse plane took off from Dulles International Airport Saturday morning on the last leg of its historic journey as the first solar-powered plane to fly cross country.
On its way to JFK Airport in New York, the plane experienced a technical difficulty and landed earlier than expected, just after 11 p.m. instead of 2 a.m. Solar Impulse tweeted a photo after the pilots landed.
Solar Impulse, officially known as the HB-SIA prototype, will now retire. Ten years since its conception, the solar airplane achieved what organizers say is "more than it could have hoped for: a world record 26-hour flight in 2010, European flights to Brussels and Paris in 2011, the world’s first solar-powered intercontinental flight in 2012 connecting Switzerland to Morocco and now, the crossing of the land of aviation pioneers from San Francisco to New York City."
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