Parker Solar Probe

The rocket standing on the pad at Space Launch Complex 37 is a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy configuration. The 233-foot-tall rocket is the world's second highest-capacity rocket and most powerful rocket currently used by NASA. The launch vehicle consists of three Common Booster Cores, each with an RS-68A engine. Each engine produces 702,000 pounds of thrust for a combined total liftoff thrust of more than 2.1 million pounds.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun, our closest star. The spacecraft will use seven Venus flybys and 24 orbits over nearly seven years to gradually reduce its orbit around the Sun. The spacecraft will come close to 4 percent of the distance from the Sun to the Earth, and closer to the Sun's surface than any spacecraft before it.

The spacecraft will fly into part of the Sun's atmosphere, known as the corona, for the first time. The spacecraft will use four instrument suites designed to study electric and magnetic fields, plasma, and energetic particles, as well as image the solar wind. The mission will trace how energy moves through the solar corona and explore what accelerates the solar wind and solar energetic particles, enabling critical contributions to our ability to forecast changes in Earth's space environment that impact life and technology on our planet.

Good morning from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket stands ready for liftoff at Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Delta IV will launch NASA’s Parker Solar Probe on its journey to the Sun, venturing closer than any spacecraft before it. Launch is targeted for 3:53 a.m. EDT.

Today is launch day for NASA's Parker Solar Probe, as it begins its journey to the Sun. Everything is set for launch of the pioneering spacecraft at 3:53 a.m. EDT on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Stay tuned, launch coverage will begin at 3 a.m.

The launch team is targeting 3:53 a.m. EDT for liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying NASA's Parker Solar Probe. The countdown is in progress at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37.

The United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy stands on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida following rollback of the mobile service tower. The launch vehicle will send NASA's Parker Solar Probe on its journey to the Sun.

Watch the live webcast with NASA EDGE during the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Mobile Service Tower rollback at Space Launch Complex-37. The live show begins at 6:30 p.m. and can be viewed on NASA TV and social media.

The Parker Solar Probe mission and launch teams today concluded a successful Launch Readiness Review. There are no technical issues being worked at this time. Teams are proceeding for liftoff on Saturday, Aug. 11, at 3:33 a.m. EDT. On a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket with NASA's Parker Solar Probe.

Teams preparing for launch of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe are beginning a busy week leading up to liftoff, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 11, at 3:33 a.m. EDT, the opening of a 65-minute window. The spacecraft will launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 on Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

NASA and its mission partners have analyzed and approved an extended launch window for Parker Solar Probe until Aug. 23, 2018 (previously Aug. 19). The spacecraft is scheduled to launch no earlier than Aug. 11, 2018, at 3:48 a.m. with a window of 45 minutes.