Michael Buckley and Mara Johnson-Groh

Parker Solar Probe Makes History With Closest Pass to the Sun

NASA’s mission to “touch” the Sun has confirmed that it survived its record-breaking closest approach to the Sun’s surface on Dec. 24. Breaking its previous record by flying just 3.8 million miles (around 6.1 million kilometers) above the surface of the Sun, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe hurtled through the solar atmosphere at a blazing 430,000 miles per hour (6