NASA's sun-grazing spacecraft
will make its 12th close flyby of our star on Wednesday (June 1), marking the halfway point of the mission.
During this flyby,
the Parker Solar Probe will get as close as 5.3 million miles (8.5 million kilometers) of the solar surface,
Flying 14 times closer
than the orbit of Mercury — our solar system's closest planet to the sun — Parker will reach a top speed of 364,660 mph
Parker Solar Probe is
hly 21 times faster than the International Space Station's speed(opens in new tab) as it orbits Earth.
The exact time
of the closest approach, known as perihelion, will be 6:50 p.m. EDT (2250 GMT)
The mission is expected to
better uncover the nature of space weather, which can affect our planet by shorting out satellites, power lines or other infrastructure during the most powerful storms.