Dick Rutan co-piloted the Voyager around the world in 1986, taking off from and landing at Edwards Air Force Base without stopping in one of aviation's greatest feats.

On December 23, 1986, an airplane landed at Edwards AFB. This by itself wouldn’t mean much, but this particular airplane had just written history. Piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, the ...

Just before 8 a.m. Dec. 14, 1986, Dick Rutan sat in the pilot's seat of a wild-looking experimental aircraft on the 15,000-foot runway at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, the Rutan Model 76 Voyager had just completed its non-stop flight around the world after taking off from that very same runway just over nine days prior.

This cover shows the Rutan Voyager, the two-place composite aircraft, designed by Burt Rutan for Voyager Aircraft Co., flying over Mojave Airport near Edwards AFB, California in 1984.

Dick Rutan in 1985 at the Mojave Airport in California, where his brother, Burt, designed and built the Voyager, the plane in which he would fly around the world a year later. Paul Harris/Getty Images ...

He was 85. Credit: AP/Jake Schoellkopf Voyager left from Edwards Air Force Base in California just after 8 a.m. on Dec. 14, 1986. Rutan said with all that fuel, the wings had only inches of clearance.