Humanity's closest Encounter with the Sun

Humanity’s closest Encounter with the Sun – broke previous records

Humanity’s closest Encounter with the Sun

Controllers have confirmed NASA’s mission to “touch” the Sun survived its record-breaking closest approach to the solar surface on Dec. 24, 2024.

Breaking its previous record by flying just 3.8 million miles above the surface of the Sun, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe hurtled through the solar atmosphere at a blazing 430,000 miles per hour — faster than any human-made object has ever moved. A beacon tone received in the late evening hours of Dec. 26 confirmed the spacecraft had made it through the encounter safely and is operating normally.

This pass, the first of more to come at this distance, allows the spacecraft to conduct unrivaled scientific measurements with the potential to change our understanding of the Sun.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun.

Flying into the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere, the corona, for the first time, Parker Solar Probe is collecting measurements and images to expand our knowledge of the origin and evolution of solar wind. It also makes critical contributions to forecasting changes in the space environment that affect life and technology on Earth.