NASA announced it contacted the Parker Solar Probe on Dec. 27 and confirmed the spacecraft was “safe” and operating normally after making its record-setting approach to the sun on Christmas Eve.
“Parker Solar Probe has phoned home,” NASA wrote on X. “After passing just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface on Dec. 24—the closest solar flyby in history—we have received Parker Solar Probe’s beacon tone confirming the spacecraft is safe.”
The probe again entered the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, after first doing so in December 2021.
This was the closest approach to the sun by any human-made object as scientists look to learn more about the star at the center of our solar system….