NASA declared that its Parker Solar Probe, the most rapid spacecraft in record, has accomplished its 2nd close nearing to the Sun and is getting into the second solar orbit’s outbound phase now. On Thursday, at 6:40 pm Eastern Time, the spacecraft passed within 24 million km (15 million miles) of the Sun, matching its distance record made in October as the nearest craft ever to the star, as per the space agency.
Parker Solar Probe was touring at 343,112 km/h during this perihelion. The probe is working fine and all tools are gathering science data, transmitting back normal signals via Deep Space Network of NASA. The operations manager of Parker Solar Probe mission, Nickalaus Pinkine, said, “We’re looking forward to obtaining the science information from this encounter in the forthcoming weeks; consequently, the science teams can persist to investigate the mysteries of the Sun and the corona.”
On the other end, NASA is a bit nearer to driving astronauts back to the Moon in the subsequent 5 Years after a victorious engine test at Stennis Space Center of NASA close to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The most recent “hot fire” was the conclusion of 4-plus years of validation for the RS-25 engines that will propel the first 4 SLS (Space Launch System) rockets into space. This ends 4 Years of concentrated work by an outstanding Stennis test team,” said Rick Gilbrech, the Stennis Director.
SLS Liquid Engines Office’s deputy manager at Marshall Space Flight Center of NASA in Huntsville, Alabama, Johnny Heflin, said, “It signifies yet another episode in Stennis’ long record of examining excellence and leadership in support of this country’s space exploration attempts. All engaged should feel proud of their contributions and work. Now engines are a ‘go’ for assignments to drive astronauts to the Moon to study and get ready for missions to Mars.”