Flying Wing Surpasses Altitude Records for Non-Rocket Airplane
NASA’s solar-powered Helios experimental aircraft lifted off from a U.S. Navy base on the Hawaiian island of Kauai on Monday, reaching a height of 96,500 feet.
The $15 million aircraft failed in its attempt to reach an altitude of 100,000 feet, but it broke a record set by its predecessor, the Pathfinder Plus, for 80,201 feet for solar-powered and propeller-driven aircraft in 1998.
Officials decided to bring down the radio-controlled Helios at 4:08 p.m. Hawaii time (10:08 p.m. EDT), NASA spokesman Alan Brown told the Associated Press, as the craft had reached a “zero climb rate” in thinning air and slanting sunlight.
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