US space agency Nasa has launched its mission to send a satellite closer to the Sun than any before.
The Parker Solar Probe rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The probe is set to become the fastest‑moving manmade object in history. Its data promises to crack longstanding mysteries about the Sun's behaviour.
It is the first space craft to be named after a living person ‑ astrophysicist 91-year-old Eugene Parker, who first described solar wind in 1958.
Just under an hour after the launch, Nasa confirmed that the spacecraft had successfully separated and the probe had been released into space.
[Source:BBC News]
