A spacecraft that made the closest-ever approach to the surface of the sun is now safe and “operating normally” after it's breakthrough mission, Nasa has said. On Christmas Eve , the Parker Solar Probe came within 3.8 million miles of the sun’s surface while moving at 430,000 miles per hour, according to Nasa - and potentially endured roasting temperatures of up to 982C. The American space agency said the mission operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel,