NASA Launches Parker Solar Probe In First Mission To ‘Touch Sun’

This photo provided by NASA shows the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket with the Parker Solar Probe onboard shortly after the Mobile Service Tower was rolled back Aug. 10, 2018, Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)

NASA has blasted off its first-ever spaceship to explore the Sun, the $1.5 billion Parker Solar Probe.

The launch of the car-sized probe aboard a massive Delta IV-Heavy rocket lit the night sky at Cape Canaveral, Florida at 3:31 am (0731 GMT) on Sunday.

It was learned that the probe is guarded by an ultra-powerful heat shield that can endure unprecedented levels of heat, and radiation 500 times that experienced on Earth.

According to reports, when it nears the Sun, the probe will travel at some 430,000 miles per hour (692,000 kilometers per hour).

Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said: “This mission truly marks humanity’s first visit to a star,”

“We’ve accomplished something that decades ago, lived solely in the realm of science fiction,” he added.





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