Dr. Parker Watches Parker Solar Probe Liftoff

Dr. Eugene Parker, a pioneer in heliophysics and S. Chandrasekhar distinguished service professor emeritus for the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago, watches the launch of NASA's Parker Solar Probe. This is the first agency mission named for a living person. The liftoff took place at 3:31 a.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018. The spacecraft was built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. The mission will perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun's atmosphere, called the corona. The probe will rely on measurements and imaging to revolutionize our understanding of the corona and the Sun-Earth connection.

Dr. Eugene Parker, a pioneer in heliophysics and S. Chandrasekhar distinguished service professor emeritus for the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago, watches the launch of NASA's Parker Solar Probe. This is the first agency mission named for a living person. The liftoff took place at 3:31 a.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018. The spacecraft was built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. The mission will perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun's atmosphere, called the corona. The probe will rely on measurements and imaging to revolutionize our understanding of the corona and the Sun-Earth connection.

Photographer NASA/Glenn Benson
Location OSB II
Parker Solar ProbePSPNASAGoddard Space Flight CenterGSFCKennedy Space CenterKSCLaunch Services ProgramLSPUnited Launch AllianceULADelta IV HeavySpace Launch Complex 37SLC 37Cape Canaveral Air Force StationCCAFSJohns Hopkins University Applied Physics LaboratoryAPLAstrotechSpace Operations AstrotechDr Eugene ParkerNicky Fox