NASA has launched a unique Solar probe on Sunday, August 12th, and its set to fly faster and come closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft before it.
This is one of the Top space science mission for 2018. The Launch took place in the early morning at 3:31 a.m. EDT from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
“Named as the mission to touch the Sun”, the Parker Solar Probe will carry a suite of instruments closer to the nearest star ever before in an efforts to know its secrets. The mission is named after Solar physicist Eugene Parker and it’s the first mission to be named after a living person.
This launch is the result of six decades of scientific study and millions of hours of effort, says project manager Andy Driesman (Johns Hopkins University). The Probe is operating normally and its way to start a seven-year mission to extreme science.
The Parker Solar Probe will soon be speeding toward the Sun at 430,000 mph (192 km/s) — breaking the previous record held by the Helios-B spacecraft and making it the fastest spacecraft to date.