Solar-powered flight breaks world record

A Swiss team attempting to circumnavigate the globe with an aircraft powered only by the sun's energy has broken a world record for the longest nonstop solo flight, the project team said on Thursday.

The Solar Impulse, which took off from Japan on Monday on the seventh leg of its journey and is expected to land in Hawaii early on Friday, shattered the solo-flight record threshold of 76 hours while crossing the Pacific.

The aircraft, piloted alternatively by Swiss explorers Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard, set off on its 35,000-km journey around the world from Abu Dhabi on March 9.