https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/negamz/humanity-closer-to-the-sun-nasa-parker-solar-probe > A NASA space probe just got closer to the Sun than any human-made object in history. > On Monday at 1:04 PM ET, the Parker Solar Probe passed within 26.55 million miles of the solar surface, breaking a record set in April 1976 by the German-American Helios 2 mission. The probe, which is named after solar astrophysicist Eugene Parker, was launched in August and is conducting its first solar flyby this week. It will inch even nearer to the Sun until November 6, and then swing back out into its deep space orbit to gear up for its next close pass in April 2019.