NASA's pioneering Parker Solar Probe is poised to make its closest-ever approach of the Sun on Christmas Eve, a record-setting 3.8 million miles (6.2 million kilometers) from the surface.

Launched in August 2018, the spaceship is on a seven-year mission to deepen scientific understanding of our star and help forecast space-weather events that can affect life on Earth.

Its closest approach to date will happen on Tuesday, December 24, at 6:53 am (11:53 GMT).

If the distance between Earth and the Sun is the equivalent to the length of an American football field, the spacecraft would be about four yards (meters) from the end zone at........

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