WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

Titan/Centaur-2 stands poised at Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to hurl a West German-built solar probe on a journey which will carry it more than two-thirds of the distance to the Sun. Launch by KSC's Unmanned launch Operations Directorate is scheduled for no earlier than 2:11 a.m. EST December 10. Helios-A is to soar to within 28 million miles of the Sun approximately three months after launch. The first spacecraft designed to penetrate the outer corona of the Sun, it will be exposed to temperatures hot enough to melt lead at its closest approach. The Helios project is a joint undertaking of the United States and West Germany.