NASA spacecraft survives closest pass to Sun

WASHINGTON

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe survived its record-breaking closest approach to the solar surface on Dec. 24, the US space agency said on Friday.

By flying 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) above the surface of the Sun, it broke its previous record, according to the US space agency.

"Flying this close to the Sun is a historic moment in humanity’s first mission to a star," Nicky Fox, leader of NASA’s science mission directorate, said in a statement.

"By studying the Sun up close, we can better understand its impacts throughout our solar system, including on the technology we use daily on Earth and in space, as well as learn about the workings of stars across the universe to aid in our search for habitable worlds beyond our home planet," Fox added.

Launched in 2018, the spacecraft used seven flybys of Venus to gravitationally direct it ever closer to the Sun.

WASHINGTON

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe survived its record-breaking closest approach to the solar surface on Dec. 24, the US space agency said on Friday.

By flying 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) above the surface of the Sun, it broke its previous record, according to the US space agency.

"Flying this close to the Sun is a historic moment in humanity’s first mission to a star," Nicky Fox, leader of NASA’s science mission directorate, said in a statement.

Launched in 2018, the spacecraft used seven flybys of Venus to gravitationally direct it ever closer to the Sun.