First manned solar flight

On 18 May 1980, in an aircraft called the Gossamer Penguin, the 13-year-old American, Marshall MacCready, made the first flight with a purely solar-powered aircraft, at Shafter Airport near Bakersfield, California, USA. The first aircraft capable of sustained, manned flight over significant distances using solar energy as its sole power source with no onboard energy system was the Solar Challenger. On 7 July 1981, Stephen Ptacek flew from Puntoise-Cormeilles near Paris, France, across the English Channel to Manston in Kent, UK – a distance of 262.3 kilometres (163 miles) in 5 hours 23 minutes. The Solar Challenger was powered only by 16,128 solar cells powering two three horsepower motors driving a single controllable pitch propeller.