NASA's sun-grazing
spacecraft will make its 12th close flyby of our star on Wednesday
During this flyby
the Parker Solar Probe will get as close as 5.3 million miles (8.5 million kilometers) of the solar surface
Flying 14 times closer than the
orbit of Mercury — our solar system's closest planet to the sun — Parker will reach a top speed of 364,660 mph (586,860 kph).
That's roughly 21 times faster
than the International Space Station's speed(opens in new tab) as it orbits Earth.
The exact time of
the closest approach, known as perihelion, will be 6:50 p.m. EDT (2250 GMT)
Parker isn't set to break
its speed record again this time, as it has several times throughout its mission.