# @nasa on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BmRih1onhlF
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/11735053-nasa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/eec96ea942.jpg
- **Posted:** 2018-08-09T21:58:02.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA (@NASA) — https://gondola.cc/NASA

## Caption

Ready for liftoff! The Parker #SolarProbe, our mission to touch the Sun, will have its first opportunity to lift off on Saturday, Aug. 11, at 3:33 a.m. EDT. Launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Parker Solar Probe will make its journey all the way to the Sun’s atmosphere, or corona — closer to the Sun than any spacecraft in history.

Nestled atop a United Launch Alliance (ulalaunch) Delta IV Heavy — one of the world’s most powerful rockets — with a third stage added, Parker will blast off toward the Sun with a whopping 55 times more energy than is required to reach Mars. About the size of a small car, it weighs a mere 1,400 pounds. 
Zooming through space in a highly elliptical orbit, the probe will reach speeds up to 430,000 miles per hour — fast enough to get from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., in a second — setting the record for the fastest spacecraft in history. During its nominal mission lifetime of just under 7 years, Parker Solar Probe will complete 24 orbits of the Sun — reaching within 3.8 million miles of the Sun’s surface at closest approach.

Seen here is the rocket payload fairing at Launch Complex 37.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
#nasa #parker #parkersolarprobe #solarprobe #sun #mission #rocket #satellite #space #science #picoftheday #pictureoftheday

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## Tags

pictureoftheday, sun, mission, solarprobe, satellite, science, nasa, rocket, picoftheday, space, parker, parkersolarprobe

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