NASA’s Parker Solar Probe achieved the impossible – a closer encounter with the sun than any spacecraft in history. It plunged into the sun’s scorching outer atmosphere, the corona, flying through a distance of a mere 3.

Launched in August 2018, the spaceship is on a mission to help forecast space-weather events that can affect life on Earth

The concept of touching the Sun can be traced back to the ancient Greek myth of Icarus, but scientists at NASA have turned that idea into a reality. On Dec. 24th, their Parker Solar Probe managed to travel to just within 3.