Qantas Airlines will operate a direct flight from New York to Sydney on Friday. At nearly 20 hours long, it is set to become the longest non-stop flight in the world.

A Boeing 787-9 with 40 people on board, mostly the carrier’s employees, will take off on Friday and cover more than a 10,000-mile distance (16,200 kilometers) before landing in Australia on Sunday morning. The flight will take a total of nearly 19 hours. No commercial airline has ever flown without a stop along the route.

This will be the first in the series of the Australian flag carrier’s ultra long-haul research flights to gather new data about inflight passenger and crew health. And it’s not only jet lag that can bother customers as they cross several time zones during such a long journey. People can suffer from general fatigue, dehydration and swelling feet. The lack of movement can also affect blood circulation and accelerate the risk of deep vein thrombosis.

To measure the wellbeing of those inside the cabin, the plane will be turned into a high-altitude laboratory, as the travelers will wear special devices to let the scientists monitor sleep, food and physical movement. A team of researchers will also work with pilots, who will be fitted with an electroencephalogram (EEG) device to screen their brain and monitor alertness.

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Other tests are scheduled for November and December, all part of what Qantas calls Project Sunrise research flights. The carrier will use the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for its next trial, that will fly non-stop from London to Sydney, the second long-distance route eyed by the company. It will be only the second time a commercial airline has flown direct between the two cities.

If the key tests prove to be successful, Qantas may launch regular commercial trips from New York and London to Australian cities as soon as 2022.

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