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Parker Solar Probe
Fastest human-made object (430,000 mph)
On 24 December 2024 NASA's Parker Solar Probe passed about 6.1 million km from the Sun's surface at roughly 692,000 km/h. It is the closest and fastest any spacecraft has been.
Parker Solar Probe launched in 2018 and uses repeated flybys of Venus to tighten its orbit around the Sun. Gravity pulls it faster as it falls close to the Sun, so its speed peaks at the closest point of each loop. It carries a thick carbon-composite heat shield that keeps its instruments close to room temperature even though the shield faces temperatures of well over a thousand degrees Celsius.
On 24 December 2024 it reached the closest approach of its prime mission, about 6.1 million km from the Sun's visible surface, and NASA confirmed the spacecraft was healthy a few days later, after a communications blackout. The speed of about 692,000 km/h (430,000 mph) is relative to the Sun.
Speed records depend on the reference point. Relative to the Sun, Parker is fastest. Relative to Earth, and for other spacecraft, other figures apply. Similar close passes in 2025 were planned at the same distance. The record was set again each time the spacecraft completed a close orbit, so the figure refers to the fastest pass, which took place at the nearest point to the Sun.