NASA probe will create history by traveling closer to the sun than ever before.

On Christmas Eve, NASA's Parker Solar Probe will go around the Sun as close as it has ever been.

It was planned for the probe to fly 3.8 million miles from the Sun's surface just before 7 a.m. EST on Tuesday. NASA says it will pass by at about 430,000 mph.

NASA said that all of the spacecraft's systems were working properly.

Arik Posner, a scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., said, "This is an example of one of NASA's brave missions. They are doing something that no one else has ever done before to answer long-standing questions about our universe."

"We can't wait to receive that first status update from the spacecraft and start receiving the science data in the coming weeks."

Mission operations will not be able to talk to the spacecraft during the closest pass.

After the close pass, the probe will send out a signal on Friday to let us know that it is still healthy. The flight is the first of three last close flybys that are planned for the journey.

It was NASA's Parker Solar Probe that flew through the Sun's upper atmosphere for the first time in 2021. The probe has to deal with terrible heat and radiation as it moves closer with each circle.

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