Solar Plane Lands in California After 3-Day Pacific Flight Without Fuel

A solar-powered airplane attempting to fly around the world without fuel has landed in California after a three-day flight across the Pacific, according to the team behind the ambitious mission.

The Solar Impulse 2 was piloted by Swiss explorer Bertrand Piccard, who is attempting to promote clean technologies along with his partner André Borschberg. “It’s a new era. It’s not science fiction. It’s today,” Piccard told CNN. “It exists and clean technologies can do the impossible.”

The aircraft departed from Hawaii on Thursday. It has the wingspan of a Boeing 747 and weighs about as much as an SUV, according to CNN.

The plane last summer made a record-breaking solo flight of five days and five nights without fuel from Nagoya, Japan to Hawaii, the team said on its website. “Everybody could use the plane’s technologies on the ground to halve our world’s energy consumption, save natural resources and improve our quality of life,” their website says. “This message is being spread by the pilots to the general public, students, key decision-makers and entrepreneurs all over the world.