Solar Impulse heads to China

Solar Impulse, the solar powered plane, has started the fifth leg of its landmark round-the-world flight.

The plane departed Mandalay international airport in Myanmar just after 21:00 GMT on Sunday, and is heading for the Chinese city of Chongqing.

The schedule includes a brief stop there before heading to Nanjing on the east coast of China.

The fifth leg will cover about 1,375km and will take around 19 hours to complete.

Solar Impulse will then start the first of its big ocean crossings - a five-day, five-night flight to Hawaii.

The plane started the historic journey 20 days ago in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The planes circumnavigation of the globe is expected to include a total of 12 legs, and will finish back in the UAE.

Solar Impulse has set two world records for piloted solar-powered flights in the last month.

The first record was for the longest distance covered on a single journey - 1,468km between Muscat, Oman, and Ahmedabad, India.

The second was for reaching a groundspeed of 117 knots (216km/h; 135mph), which was achieved during the leg into Myanmar.

The planes four propellers are powered by the electricity provided by 17,000 solar cells on the wings.

In the dark, the planes motors use the excess energy generated and stored during the day in lithium-ion batteries.