Solar Orbiter separation

Artist's impression of Solar Orbiter following separation from the Centaur upper stage of the Atlas V 411 rocket launching the mission into space.

Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA. Its mission is to perform unprecedented close-up observations of the Sun and from high latitudes, providing the first images of the uncharted polar regions of the Sun, and investigating the Sun-Earth connection. It is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA in February 2020.