The first aircraft powered solely by the sun made its landing into history, reaching Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and completing a 25,000 mile, round-the-world journey that began over a year ago, reports CNN.

The Swiss-engineered Solar Impulse 2 was piloted by Bertrand Piccard on the final part of the epic expedition that took off from Cairo earlier this week. The final stop completes its 17-leg, milestone journey that used only the power of the sun's rays.

The lightweight aircraft, which weighs the same as an SUV but has the wingspan of a Boeing 747, is the brainchild of Piccard and Bertrand Borschberg, a Swiss engineer and businessman. The Solar Impulse is a single-seater, so the two men have shared the flying by taking different legs of the journey since March 2015.

The plane had earlier secured a place in the record books by being the first plane to cross the Atlantic - from New York's JFK airport to Seville in Spain, then also piloted by Piccard - without a single drop of fuel.

It also set the record for the longest solo flight - five days and five nights - without fuel, from Nagoya in Japan to Hawaii.

The revolutionary voyage, which the team labeled a "13-year exploit," demonstrates the biggest exploration of energy efficient batteries and clean technology that could potentially alter the way we travel.