History-Making NASA Probe Flies Closer to the Sun Than Ever Before

A NASA probe ventured closer to the sun than any spacecraft in history on Christmas Eve—and it whirled by at astounding speeds that also made it the fastest thing ever made by humans.

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Just before 7 a.m. on Dec. 24, the Parker Solar Probe passed within just 3.8 million miles of the sun's surface—seven times closer to the burning ball of gas than any other mission has gotten, according to the New York Times.

As it skirted the corona—or the sun's outer atmosphere—it careened through space at a record-breaking 430,000 miles per hour, the outlet said.

This broke the probe's own speed record, making it the quickest thing assembled by human hands.

The close encounter is the culmination of a six-year mission that has sent the Parker probe zipping ever closer to the sun during flybys that have revealed new information about the celestial body.