The revolutionary aircraft moved through four electric motors powered by solar energy, took off just before 6 am (10 am in GMT) bound for Phoenix (Arizona), where it will land after 19 hours of flight.

For this first step, the plane just a place will be piloted by Bertrand Piccard, co-founder of the ecological design of this aircraft with André Borschberg, that is the second pilot.

Initially, the cross was scheduled for May 1, but had to be postponed due to weather.

The Solar Impulse team is preparing for this new adventure since March in California, where they conducted the first test flight in the San Francisco area.

The crossing from west to east to New York will be done in five steps for security reasons, explained the two Swiss adventurers, stressing that the plane can technically perform on a nonstoping situation, but that would require another pilot aboard.

The Swiss solar aircraft Solar Impulse takes off from Moffett Air Base, near San Francisco, California, kicking off the first leg of their long journey across the U.S.. The revolutionary aircraft is driven by four electric motors Solar Energy (Photo: Stephen Lam / Reuters)

'Solar Impulse' already made intercontinental flight between Europe and Africa (Photo: Reuters)

 If the impulse team do the cross on the US the next big step could be to go from US to Europe and cross the old continent, with the experience taked from the crossing in US the engineers of the team can calculate the stress over the plane and adjust better the structure of the fuselage and the wings. I dont know how these plane is in a windy or rainy situation but is a very nice challenge for the team to make from them longer and better trips. For us we just can say good luck for them and disire them sucess !

Gabriel Berman.