Parker Solar Probe Blasts Off
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's a daring mission to shed light on the mysteries to our closest star, the sun.
The Parker Solar Probe is named after University of Chicago astrophysicist Dr. Eugene Parker. The mission was first proposed 60 years ago.
Around the same time the 91-year-old Parker came up with the theory of solar wind. He is the first living person to have a NASA mission named after him.
Parker was in Florida to see the send-off.
"I really have to turn from biting my names and getting it launched," said Parker. "It's a whole new phase and it's going to be fascinating and all I can say it 'wow! Here's we go. We're in for some learning over the next several years.'"
#ParkerSolarProbe is on its way to the Sun, where it will come within 4 million miles of the surface. The region it will fly through, the corona, is actually hundreds of times hotter than the surface. That's one mystery we hope to solve with this mission. https://t.co/oeORHuLCtB pic.twitter.com/F3TpLxUICm
— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) August 12, 2018