For the first time in recorded human history, NASA has officially entered the Sun's atmosphere. Revealed by the space organisation in a blog post, the spacecraft, Parker Solar Probe, passed through the Sun's upper atmosphere (aka corona), getting as close as 6.5 million miles from our star's actual surface.
Noted as a "monumental moment for solar science and a truly remarkable feat" by NASA's Thomas Zurbuchen, this is also regarded as a milestone which will "provide us with deeper insights into our Sun's evolution and its impacts on our solar system".
Ever since the Parker Solar Probe launched back in 2018, the probe has completed several passes in and out of the Sun's corona at different distances from the solar giant's body, all in an effort to gather data and vital information in the effort to further study and understand the Sun in way we couldn't previously from afar. It's mentioned by NASA that the next time the probe will make a pass through the Sun's corona will be in January 2022, when we will hopefully get to know even more about our star.
While this achievement has defined the record of the closest ever-pass by the Sun, it has also secured the record for the fastest speed a manmade object has ever travelled, with the Parker Solar Probe said to be travelling at 430,000 mph on its journey to our cosmic giant.