NASAs Parker Solar Probe is still zipping around the sun making history, and its gearing up for another record-setting approach this week. On December 24 at 6:53AM ET, the spacecrafts orbit will take it just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface, according to the space agency. Thatll be the closest it or any other probe has ever come to the sun. The milestone will mark the completion of the Parker Solar Probes 22nd orbit around our star, and the first of the three final closest flybys planned for its mission. The craft, which launched in 2018, is expected to complete a total of 24 orbits.No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star, so Parker will truly be returning data from uncharted territory, Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, said in a statement on NASAs blog. Were excited to hear back from the spacecraft when it swings back around the Sun.The Parker Solar Probe will be traveling at about 430,000 miles per hour at the time of its closest-ever pass. Itll ping the team to confirm its health on December 27, when itll be far enough from the sun to resume communications.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-parker-solar-probe-will-fly-closer-to-the-sun-than-ever-on-christmas-eve-225338918.html?src=rss