NASA to unveil first mission to sun's atmosphere

For the first time ever, NASA hopes to touch the sun.

Later today, scientists will unveil its very first mission to fly directly into the sun's atmosphere.

The Solar Probe Plus is scheduled for liftoff next summer.

It will then orbit within four million miles of the sun's surface.

The probe will study the sun in hopes of learning how it works, and possibly improve weather forecasts here on earth.

The heat and radiation the spacecraft will face will be unlike any other NASA has experienced in history.

RELATED: Breathtaking and gnarly nebulae (clouds of gas) float through space

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BUBBLE NEBULA: The remarkably spherical Bubble marks the boundary between an intense wind of particles from the star and the more quiescent interior of the nebula.

NASA, Donald Walter/South Carolina State University/Paul Scowen/ Brian Moore/Arizona State University

SEE ALSO: Trump signs bill authorizing NASA funding, Mars exploration

President Trump has authorized $19.5 billion in spending for NASA's 2017 fiscal year.

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