A plane powered only by solar energy landed in Arizona after an 18-hour journey from southern California. It's the first leg of the Solar Impulse's attempt to fly across the U.S. without any fuel.

The brainchild of swiss pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, the Solar Impulse has a battery that's charged by energy collected from 12,000 solar cell built into its wings.

Piccard was the pilot for the first of a five stop trip across the U.S.

SOUNDBITE: BERTRAND PICCARD, PILOT AND CO-FOUNDER, SOLAR IMPULSE, SAYING:

"I tell you, it was a lot of preparation and we have done the first leg. I just can't believe we have been working on that since so long and the first leg is done."

both pilots hope the trip will generate interst in clean energy air travel."

Both pilots hope the trip will generate interst in clean energy air travel.