ANNOUNCER: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2--
NICKY FOX: Yes!
ANNOUNCER: --0, liftoff of the mighty Delta 4 heavy rocket
with NASA's Parker solar probe.
EUGENE PARKER: Well, hi, Nicky.
NICKY FOX: How are you?
Nice to see you.
EUGENE PARKER: Good to see you.
NICKY FOX: So 12 months ago, you stood on the balcony
at Kennedy Space Center, and you watched a rocket.
Was that the first time you had ever seen a rocket launch?
EUGENE PARKER: The first time I've seen it.
And I realize there's an up-close video with all
the fire and the fury of the launchpad.
But it's just as exciting to see it from six miles away
because you get a feeling then for the great distances that
are involved.
I was very moved by the fact that that spacecraft was
going off into the night sky, and he'll never come back.
So [INAUDIBLE] sad for your old friend.
NICKY FOX: I had separation anxiety.
Because after working with that spacecraft for so long,
it actually became part of the team.
And to say goodbye to her was really, really tough.
EUGENE PARKER: And all this little anxiety about
will something go wrong?
And the answer is no.
This baby was built to perform, and it's
done its job flawlessly.
NICKY FOX: She certainly has.
It was just an amazing experience
to stand and see the spectacle of the launch
and also realize that the person who
really inspired the entire project
was sitting right in front of me.
Gene Parker was the one who really figured out
how all of the energy and all of the excitement that goes on
in the sun is really carried to us here at Earth, right
the way out to the very edge of our heliosphere.
Well, I'm delighted to be out here
to tell you a little bit about what Parker solar probe has
been doing since the launch one year ago.
We have completed two full orbits of the sun.
So we did our first Venus flyby just a few weeks
after she launched and then straight into the sun.
So far, she is behaving beautifully.
We are very happy.
We've managed to bring down at least
twice as much data as we had originally
suspected from those first two [INAUDIBLE] passes.
I brought some data to show you.
EUGENE PARKER: Oh.
NICKY FOX: This was our first light image from the whisper
camera.
And this is actually the Milky Way.
And I know we're supposed to be looking at the sun,
but this is my favorite image.
EUGENE PARKER: [CHUCKLING]
NICKY FOX: This is close to the sun.
And you can see there's a couple of little flux ropes here.
And you cannot see those from the Earth or anything that is
close to the Earth.
EUGENE PARKER: All I can say is wow.
NICKY FOX: [LAUGHS]
EUGENE PARKER: And I'm not surprised that it's strange
because it usually is when you go there and make measurements.
I wouldn't be surprised if the most surprising things have yet
to come.
I wonder what an elementary textbook will say, let's say,
10 years from now.
NICKY FOX: Yes, I'm sure they will change.
I'm sure we will rewrite textbooks because
of this mission and because we're finally
going to explore the kind of outer atmosphere of the star.
It's very exciting.
EUGENE PARKER: It isn't over yet.
NICKY FOX: One year in, we have another six to go.
EUGENE PARKER: Yeah.
[MUSIC PLAYING]