On August 7, 1980, Janice Brown piloted the solar-powered Gossamer Penguin for 14 minutes and 21 seconds over a distance of more than two miles at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in California. This was the first sustained flight of an aircraft powered solely by solar-power, with no battery on board. Following the Gossamer Penguin, she also piloted the follow-on aircraft, the Solar Challenger, setting several records, including an altitude record of 14,300 feet on May 19th 1981. This is her story!

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