CARLATA BRADLEY

NEW YORK (AP) — A NASA spacecraft aims to fly closer to the
sun than any object sent before.

The Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 to get a close-up
look at the sun. Since then, it has flown straight through the
sun’s corona: the outer atmosphere visible during a total solar
eclipse.

The next milestone: closest approach to the sun. Plans call for
Parker on Tuesday to hurtle through the sizzling solar atmosphere
and pass within a record-breaking 3.8 million miles of the sun’s
surface.

NASA said at that moment, if the sun and Earth were at opposite
ends of a football field, Parker "would be on the 4-yard line.”

Mission managers won’t know how Parker fared until days after
the flyby since the spacecraft will be out of communication range.

The 233-foot tall probe before launch from Cape Canaveral.

Swimmers assist Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene A. Cernan,
left, Ronald E. Evans, and Harrison H. “Jack” Schmitt in
the life raft. (NASA Image)

The Apollo Lunar-Landing program came to an
end on December 19, 1972, when the last three
astronauts to travel to the moon splashed
down safely in the  Pacific Ocean.

Apollo 17 had lifted off from Cape Canaveral,
Florida 10 days before.

        

         
         
       

The Soviet Union launched the first animal to orbit the earth
into space—a dog nicknamed Laika—aboard the Sputnik 2
spacecraft.

Laika (above) part Siberian husky, lived as a stray on the
Moscow streets before being enlisted into the Soviet space
program.

Electrodes attached to her body provided scientists on the
ground with important information about the biological
effects of space travel. She died from overheating and
panic.

Model of Sputnik 2 at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics
in Moscow.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935 – October 28, 2022)
was an American pianist, singer and songwriter.

Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock ‘n’
roll‘s first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll
and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings
in 1952.