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Tuesday 24th November 2015

Support Bertrand and I as National Geographic Adventurers of the Year 

I’ve been dreaming about aviation and making a contribution to the world of exploration since I was a boy. And today, Bertrand Piccard and I are halfway through completing a Round-The-World tour in our pioneering solar plane. An extraordinary enterprise which recently earned us the possibility to be elected as National Geographic’s 2016 Adventurers of the Year!

 

You can vote here daily to support us.

 

For the 11th year now, National Geographic combed the globe and picked ten nominees for their “extraordinary achievement in exploration, adventure sports, conservation, or humanitarianism”. Discovering our names on the list was a great surprise as it rewards our efforts to place dreams and emotions back at the heart of scientific adventure.

 

When I started out with Bertrand, I began by building a team of engineers and technicians around his idea, and developed the strategy to build our two airplanes. At the outset, everybody in the aeronautical industry told us that it was impossible. This meant I had to do things differently from what they expected.

 

As time passed, we improved the plane’s technologies, optimized the energy chain, as well as its structural and aerodynamic features. The ultimate goal of constructing an aircraft with unlimited endurance brought a new paradox in the world of aviation.  It wasn’t easy, but that’s also what made it so motivating!

 

Thanks to Solar Impulse 2, I was able to achieve the longest solo flight in the history of aviation, using yoga and meditation to cope with a flight duration of 5 days and 5 nights. From a technological challenge, it became a human adventure with the purpose of demonstrating the potential of clean technologies.

 

The winners will be announced in February 2016. Thanks for your support!

 

André Borschberg