US space agency NASA today launched its mission to send a satellite closer to the Sun than any before. The rocket carrying the Parker Solar Probe lifted off from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida in the US.

Parker Solar Probe, world's first mission to touch the Sun, will unlock the mysteries of star's fiery outer atmosphere and its effects on space weather during the seven-year long journey.

The car-sized spacecraft will travel directly into the Sun's atmosphere, about four million miles from its surface and more than seven times closer than any spacecraft has come before.

The USD 1.5 billion mission will perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona.