Solar plane makes inaugural flight By Jonathan Amosscience correspondent, BBC News A solar-powered plane that will be taken on a round-the-world journey in 2015 has taken off on its inaugural flight on Monday. The solar mouse 2 lifted off from Payerne airfield in Switzerland. It is a larger, upgraded version of the aircraft that flew across America last year with adventurers Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschbergat the controls. The two men want to push the boundaries for alternative energy and believe their plane can be a standard bearer. For the maiden flight, test pilot Markus Scherdel was in the cockpit of the Solar Impulse. Wheels up occurred at about 03:30 GMT (04:30 BST: 05:30 CEST). It follows weeks of ground and taxi tests, which have seen the vehicle run up to near take-off speed. This had satisfied project leaders that the crafts systems