Parker Solar Probe Seizes Speed Record, Daring the Sun's Heat

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, built by Johns Hopkins APL and launched in 2018, has reached about 430,000 mph—its fastest pace yet—while skimming the Sun’s corona at roughly 3.8 million miles from the surface and enduring temperatures around 1,700°F, to study the Sun’s atmosphere; the mission’s future is under review amid NASA staffing and budget pressures, with the article noting another fast self-propelled craft, New Horizons, for comparison.