Solar Impulse past 'point of no return' from Japan to Hawaii

The sunrise pictured a little while after the Solar Impulse 2 took off from the international airport in Nagoya, Japan early on June 29, 2015. - Solar Impulse/AFP

Tokyo (AFP) - A revolutionary solar-powered aircraft was past "the point of no return" and flying over the Pacific Ocean bound for Hawaii Monday, on the most ambitious leg of its quest to circumnavigate the globe.

After a month of delays in Japan and a last-minute false start last week, mission controllers declared Solar Impulse 2 had taken off from the central Japanese city of Nagoya shortly after 3:00 am (1800 GMT Sunday).