Sun-powered Solar Impulse plane crosses Atlantic

The sun-powered Solar Impulse 2 plane arrived safely in Seville, Spain, early Thursday, after a flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The non-stop, 4,000-mile trip began in New York City on Monday and took three days and three nights (71 hours and 8 minutes) to complete.

The Solar Impulse team said this was one of the most challenging legs in its more than year-long trek around the world without using any jet fuel or emitting pollution.

It was the first-ever electric, solar and emission-free transatlantic flight, the Solar Impulse team said.

Pilots and Swiss adventurers Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard, who set out last year to circumnavigate the globe fueled only by the sun, alternate legs of the journey. Piccard was at the controls for the New York City to Spain leg.

The first leg of the around-the-world tour began in March 2015 in Abu Dhabi. It continued with several flights across Asia before Borschberg completed the world's longest non-stop solo flight, a four-day, 21-hour and 52-minute excursion from Japan to Hawaii last summer.

That record-breaking flight damaged the plane's battery. Because of the time needed to repair it and the decreasing sunlight as a result of the changing seasons, the pilots called off their attempt to complete the trip in a single year. The plane spent the winter in Hawaii.

The plane took off again in late April from Hawaii to San Francisco. Here in the U.S., the plane traveled from San Francisco to Phoenix, then on to Tulsa; Dayton, Ohio; Allentown, Pa., and New York City.

After its layover in Spain, the plane will make one or two more flights before landing back in Abu Dhabi.

In addition to aviation records, the pilots also sought to raise awareness about climate change, showcasing what can be done using only renewable energy.

"The most important thing isn't to make world records," Piccard said last year. "It's to show what we can do with clean technologies."