Karen Fox, far left, with Goddard Space Flight Center, moderates a Solar Orbiter science press conference at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 7, 2020. Participants from left are Daniel Mueller, Solar Orbiter Project scientist, European Space Agency; Nicky Fox, director, NASA Heliophysics Division; Guenther Hasinger, director of science, European Space Agency; and Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator, NASA Science Mission Directorate.
Solar Orbiter is an international cooperative mission between ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA. The mission aims to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and solar wind. The spacecraft will provide the first images of the Sun’s poles. The spacecraft was developed by Airbus Defence and Space. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch. Solar Orbiter will launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on Feb. 9, 2020, from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett