What is the name of the first spacecraft to fly through the Sun's corona?

The Parker Solar Probe is the first spacecraft to fly through the Sun’s corona. NASA launched the probe on August 12, 2018, specifically to study the Sun’s outer atmosphere, where temperatures, magnetic fields, and charged particles behave in surprising ways.

The achievement is often described as “touching the Sun,” but the spacecraft did not enter the Sun’s visible surface or fiery interior. It crossed the low corona, a tenuous outer atmosphere made of extremely hot plasma. The corona can reach millions of degrees, yet its low density means the spacecraft’s heat shield can prevent its instruments from being destroyed.

Parker first entered the corona during its eighth solar encounter on April 28, 2021, passing inside the Alfvén critical surface. Its instruments measured magnetic fields and solar-wind particles in a region that had previously been observable only from a distance.

Helios 2 previously held the record for the closest spacecraft approach, but it never flew through the corona. SOHO and Solar Orbiter observe the Sun and its environment, while Parker is designed for repeated close passes. Gravity assists from Venus gradually shrink its orbit and send it ever closer to the Sun.