NASA to announce details of its historic mission to 'touch the sun'

NASA will reveal the details and the launch date for the Solar Probe Plus spacecraft on May 31st

NASA is expected to announce new details on its first mission to fly directly into our sun's atmosphere on May 31.

The mission, Solar Probe Plus, is scheduled to launch in the summer of 2018.

Jonathan Lunine, the director of the Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science at Cornell University, expects we'll see incredible detail of the dynamic solar atmosphere.

According to Lunine, "Solar Probe Plus will pass within four million miles of the Sun - that's almost eight times closer to the Sun than the orbit of Mercury - and provide incredible detail on the dynamic solar atmosphere."

"Solar Probe Plus will fly closer to the Sun than the distance at which even close-in exoplanets orbit their own Suns, giving us unprecedented information on the kinds of environments these planets experience," he noted.