NASA's Parker Solar Probe was poised to make history on Tuesday with a record-breaking flight around the Sun -- although the news won't be confirmed until Friday. It's expected that the spacecraft set a new benchmark early Christmas Eve morning,

The probe accelerated to 430,000 mph, faster than any spacecraft has ever flown, traveling to within 3.8 million miles of the star’s surface.

NASA sent its Parker Solar Probe just 3.8 million miles from the surface of the Sun — and it survived. The probe transmitted a signal back to Earth on the night of December 26th, “indicating it’s in good health and operating normally,” according to NASA.