NASA's solar probe flies closer to the sun than any human-made object ever

NASA's Parker Solar Probe is expected to make a fiery dive close to the solar surface on the morning of Christmas Eve.

NASA “tasted” the sun on Christmas Eve.

The agency’s Parker Solar Probe made its closest-ever approach to the sun on Tuesday, swooping nearer to our star than any other human-made object in history.

The spacecraft, which is about the size of a small car, dove within 3.86 million miles of the solar surface at around 6:53 a.m. ET on Tuesday, flying by at about 430,000 mph, according to NASA.

“If you can imagine, it’s like going 96% of the way there to the sun’s surface,” said Kelly Korreck, a program scientist in NASA’s heliophysics division.

Mission controllers weren’t able to communicate with the probe during the maneuver, and will have to wait about three days to pick up a signal that the spacecraft survived its rendezvous with the sun.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/nasa-parker-solar-probe-fly-close-sun-rcna184500

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