NASA  launches the closest spacecraft to sun

SEE - August 12th: NASA  launched what could be the first spacecraft to be very close to

the sun. The Parker Solar Probe rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral,

Florida.

The probe is set to become the fastest-moving man-made vehicle in

history and is programmed to collect never seen before data about the

sun.

The probe was named after astrophysicist Eugene Parker, 91 who stated

upon seeing the launching of the space craft "Wow, here we go! We're

in for some learning over the next several years," he said after

watching the lift-off from the scene.

The Delta-IV Heavy rocket - which was carrying the probe - launched at

03:31 local time (07:31 GMT).

NASA confirmed that the spacecraft had successfully separated and the

probe had been released into space an hour after it's launching.

It is expected that over the next seven years, the  craft will make

24 loops around the sun to study the physics of the corona, the origin

of the important activity that affects the Earth seems to originate.

The probe will dip inside this tenuous atmosphere, sampling

conditions, and getting to just 6.16 million km (3.83 million miles)

from the Sun's broiling "surface".

The British-born project scientist Dr Nicky Fox, who is affiliated to

the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory stated to BBC news. "I

realise that might not sound that close, but imagine the Sun and the

Earth were a metre apart. Parker Solar Probe would be just 4cm away

from the Sun,"

"We'll also be the fastest human-made object ever, travelling around

the Sun at speeds of up to 690,000km/h (430,000mph) - New York to

Tokyo in under a minute!"