In December 2024 a NASA spacecraft flew straight into the Sun’s outer atmosphere at 430,000 miles per hour, the fastest any human-made object has ever moved, through a region millions of degrees hot — and survived because a 4.5-inch carbon shield kept everything behind it at roughly room temperature.

In December 2024 a NASA spacecraft flew straight into the Sun’s outer atmosphere at 430,000 miles per hour, the fastest any human-made object has ever moved, through a region millions of degrees hot — and survived because a 4.5-inch carbon shield kept everything behind it at roughly room temperature.

It has been almost eight years since launch, and NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is still one of the most ambitious space missions ever undertaken. The remarkable spacecraft even returned to the headlines again this year when it completed another close pass of the Sun during its extended mission, continuing a series of record-breaking journeys as close to the Sun as it can get and giving the world a better look at our star than we’ve ever had.  NASA S…