The spacecraft comprises two satellites that will gather data for at least a year, and needs special shielding to withstand the heat from the sun.

On Christmas Eve, an autonomous spacecraft flew past the Sun, closer than any human-made object before it.

Scientists hope that as the spacecraft passed through our star's outer atmosphere - its corona - it will have collected data that will solve a long-standing mystery.

A Nasa spacecraft is attempting to make history with the closest ever approach to the Sun.

“Fabrication, assembly, testing and final integration of a new spacecraft is a painstaking endeavor that requires great attention to detail,” Steve Stich, the manager at NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said in a statement.