NASA announces historic mission to 'touch the sun'

NASA has announced an historic mission that will bring a probe closer to the sun than ever before. The Parker Solar Probe will fly within 4 million miles of the sun's surface, right into the solar atmosphere. The mission will begin in the summer of 2018. "The spacecraft will explore the sun’s outer atmosphere and make critical observations that will answer decades-old questions about the physics of how stars work," NASA said in a statement. The craft will collect vital information about the life of stars and their weather events.