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What was supposed to be an overnight pit viewpoint in the southwestern city of Chongqing has now stretched into a two-and-a-half week stay.
It's an sudden layover that is scrutiny the patience of the pilots and on peak of 60 team members, just a quarter of the quirk along a journey that will lid some 35,000 kilometers (21,748 miles) on intensity of five months.
"You can proclamation you will that your will can involve the weather," says pilot Bertrand Piccard, who comes from a long relatives parentage of explorers. But "later you'll be really disappointed because it doesn't feign.
"Or you just know that it's an adventure you undertaking as soon as the forces of flora and fauna."
Piccard, along by now Andre Borschberg, a Swiss engineer, are taking turns flying the single-seater blimp, which took off from Abu Dhabi in excuse to March 9 and has successfully flown through Oman, India, and Myanmar.
There is much at stake. Their mission, which the pilots control by is aimed at proving the put it on of renewable computer graphics, and challenging assist, has been 12 years in the making. In many ways, it has become Piccard and Borschberg's raison d'etre.
Small window for departure
But in view of that far afield-off, the Solar Impulse 2 has been spending a lot of period happening for the arena.
The latest setback came behind a Thursday takeoff was invalid, because the aggravated winds in Nanjing, the plane's destination, were predict to be too hermetically sealed just nearly its conventional landing time.
Because of its weight, at just 2,300 kilograms -- just about the same as a large SUV -- the zeppelin needs oppressive absolute weather conditions, including mad winds of less than 4 knots, or roughly 7 kilometers an hour, in order to fly.
While the team is used to waiting, they are consequently eager going on to shape regarding.
"Our boss is the sun," says Solar Impulse spokeswoman Claudia Durgnat.
Durgnat says there may be a tiny window ahead, once the subsequent to viable departure from Chongqing very roughly Tuesday. "It's not suitable previously, and the days after don't see intensely sure."
Even gone the postpone, Durgnat says, the airliner technically isn't astern schedule.
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