Parker Solar Probe touches the Sun!

2021 has been a notable year for scientific research and discoveries in spite of the setbacks caused by
the pandemic. And possibly the most sensational of these discoveries has been the histories entrance of
NASA’s spacecraft into the Sun’s atmosphere!

Yes, you heard it right. NASA’s historic moment in 2021 has seen the entrance of its spacecraft into the
Sun’s atmosphere for the first ever time in history. This has indeed been a huge landmark in the field of
astronomy and aero space as scientists have aced what once had been deemed as impossible.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is the spacecraft that has aced this milestone by touching the Solar light orbit
this April. It is already carrying out research work by collecting data and sending it back to NASA
headquarters. Parker Solar Probe is the first ever space probe to have approached this close to our Sun.

NASA had launched this space probe back in 2018 and Parker Solar Probe has finally reached its
destination successfully, marking 2021 as a year to remember in the history of aerospace and
astronomy. Previous attempts from NASA through various space crafts had failed on many occasions but
Parker Solar Probe has finally aced the landmark.

But that is not where the scientific and aerospace wonders of 2021 stop. 2021 has seen some really
huge advancements and milestones in the field of space technology and science including the historic
launch of the most powerful space telescope James Webb in the history of astronomy. It is far more
powerful than the legendary Hubble telescope which has been contributing in our study of astronomy
and astrophysics over the years.

Probably the biggest advancement has been in the field of space tourism! Yes, space tourism is already a
thing and scientists have taken yet another step towards bringing it out to reality. Lat 11 th of July has
been a historic landmark as British citizen Richard Branson has travelled into space as the first ever
space tourist in the history of mankind.

If this surprises you then there is more to come. Richard Branson went to space on Unity Twenty-Two, a
rocket made by his personal space firm Virgin Galactic! Richard Branson was accompanied by his two
pilots on this one-hour long space trip.

But that’s not it. Right nine days later this historic space travel, Elon Musk’s Space X hosted another
space trip on their Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying four space tourists including Amazon’s owner Jeff
Bezos. Moreover, they managed to operate the spacecraft without any professional astronauts and
returned safely after the trip. Crew Dragon had travelled 580 kilometers away from the earth’s surface.

There’s more to come. After these successful tourism trips to space, Russian film director set off to film a
movie in space last October. Russian actress Yulia Peresild and two astronauts accompanied him on his
12 days of filming.

The space craft Bepi Colombo has also successfully sent back pictures of mercury while NASA’s
Perseverance Rover has collected samples of rocks from Mars. China has finished setting up the central
construction of their own space-station and Australian space scientists have figured out the reuse of fuel
wastes in space missions.
All in all, 2021 has been a year to remember in the history of astronomy and space technology. Hope
2022 brings about more wonderful discoveries and historic landmarks for science and manking.