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martyb [soylentnews.org] writes:

NASA reports that the Parker Solar Probe[*] Completes Fourth Closest Approach, Breaks New Speed and Distance Records [nasa.gov]:

At 4:37 a.m. EST on Jan. 29, 2020, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe broke speed and distance records as it completed its fourth close approach of the Sun. The spacecraft traveled 11.6 million miles from the Sun’s surface at perihelion, reaching a speed of 244,225 miles per hour. These achievements topple Parker Solar Probe’s own previous records for closest spacecraft to the Sun — previously about 15 million miles from the Sun’s surface — and fastest human-made object, before roughly 213,200 miles per hour.

[*] Wikipedia's entry for the Parker Solar Probe [wikipedia.org]:

The Parker Solar Probe (previously Solar Probe; Solar Probe Plus or Solar Probe+, abbreviated PSP)[8] is a NASA [wikipedia.org]robotic spacecraft [wikipedia.org] launched in 2018, with the mission of repeatedly probing and making observations of the outer corona [wikipedia.org] of the Sun [wikipedia.org].[3][9][6] It will approach to within 9.86 solar radii [wikipedia.org] (6.9 million kilometers or 4.3 million miles)[10][11] from the center of the Sun and by 2025 will travel, at closest approach, as fast as 690,000 km/h (430,000 mph), or 0.064% the speed of light.[10][12]

In other words, at the so-far-fastest speed, one could travel from the Earth to the Moon in as little as 55 minutes when the Moon is at perige [wikipedia.org]. At its maximum expected speed, it could travel that distance in as little as 30 minutes!

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