NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will fly past the Sun this year in a landmark moment for space exploration. According to the BBC, the probe, launched on August 12, 2018, is expected to pass by the sun on December 24, 2024 at a speed of 195 km/h or 435,000 mph.

NASA describes it on its website as a “touching the Sun” mission with the goal of obtaining “the first sample of a star’s atmosphere.”

“We actually almost landed on a star,” project scientist Noor Rauafi told the BBC. “This will be a monumental achievement for all humanity. This is equivalent to landing on the Moon in 1969,” he said.

NASA said the mission aims to help us understand the Sun more deeply as the probe orbits Mercury, closer to the Sun’s surface than ever before.

The probe collects measurements and images to help scientists learn more about where the solar wind comes from and how it evolves. It also provides “significant contributions to predicting changes in the space environment that affect life and technology on Earth.”

The probe will encounter intense heat and radiation during its journey and will pass “seven times closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft.” NASA’s chief science officer, Dr Nicky Fox, told the BBC they “don’t know” what they will find on the mission, but “we will be looking for waves in the solar wind associated with heating.”

“I suspect we will experience many different types of waves that will indicate a combination of processes that people have been discussing for years,” he added.