Parker Solar Probe: Nasa aims for first-ever 'Sun landing' in 2024

Nasa's Parker Solar Probe will blast by the Sun at an incredible 435,000 mph (195 km/s) on December 24 of next year which is expected to be a pivotal point in space exploration history.

Relative to our star, it is only 6.1 million kilometres, or 3.8 million miles, from its "surface"; no other object created by humans could have travelled so quickly or come this close.

"We are basically almost landing on a star," said Parker project scientist Dr Nour Raouafi.

"This will be a monumental achievement for all humanity. This is equivalent to the Moon landing of 1969," the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory scientist told BBC.

Parker will travel at a high pace because of the strong gravitational attraction it experiences as it approaches the sun. It will be similar to taking a quick 30-second flight from New York to London.

One of the most daring missions ever imagined is the US space agency's Parker Solar Probe.

Its 2018 launch was intended to make many, ever-closer approaches to the Sun.

Parker will travel just 4% of the Sun-Earth distance (149 million km/93 million miles) during the manoeuvre in late 2024.

Parker is going to have a very difficult task ahead of him. The temperature on the front of the spacecraft will most likely hit 1,400C at perihelion, the point in the probe's orbit closest to the star.