On Aug. 12, 2018 – five years ago this week – NASA's Parker Solar Probe blasted off atop a powerful Delta IV rocket.
Durable Parker Solar Probe Going Strong After First Five Years


On Aug. 12, 2018 – five years ago this week – NASA's Parker Solar Probe blasted off atop a powerful Delta IV rocket.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe executed a short maneuver on Aug. 3, 2023, that kept the spacecraft on track to hit the aim point for the mission's sixth Venus flyby on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023.
NASA's Parker Solar Probe accomplished a milestone on June 27, 2023 – its 16th orbit of the Sun.
NASA's Parker Solar Probe mission is providing new evidence that a violent, catastrophic event created the Geminids.
NASA's Parker Solar Probe completed its 15th close approach to the Sun on March 17, coming within 5.3 million miles of the scorching solar surface.
An instrument on NASA's Parker Solar Probe was powered off by the spacecraft autonomy system on Feb. 12, 2023.
On Dec. 6, 2022, NASA's Parker Solar Probe began the 14th of 24 planned close approaches to the Sun, eventually coming within 5.3 million miles of the solar surface.

As NASA's Parker Solar Probe approaches its 13th perihelion, or close encounter, with the Sun on Sept. 6, it is heading into a much different solar environment than ever before.

Four years after launch, NASA's Parker Solar Probe is operating exceptionally well and sending back more than twice the planned amount of science data.