article_snippet.sent: Nasa has finalised an ambitious mission to send a spacecraft closer to the sun than ever before.
article_snippet.sent: The Solar Probe Plus is scheduled to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket with an upper stage from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
article_snippet.sent: The spacecraft and instruments will be protected from the sun
article_snippet.sent: The small car-sized spacecraft will plunge directly into the sun's atmosphere approximately four million miles from the star's surface.
article_snippet.sent: The small car-sized spacecraft will explore a region no other spacecraft ever has encountered.
article_snippet.sent: The mission - which will fly closer to the sun than any spacecraft has before - reached a major milestone last month when The small car-sized spacecraft successfully completed The small car-sized spacecraft Critical Design Review, or CDR.
article_snippet.sent: An independent NASA review board met at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Laurel, Maryland, March 16-20, 2015, to review all aspects of the mission plan.
article_snippet.sent: APL has designed and will build and operate the spacecraftNASA.
article_snippet.sent: The CDR certifies that the Solar Probe Plus mission design is at an advanced stage and that fabrication, assembly, integration and testing of the many elements of the mission may proceed.
article_snippet.sent: Calif. will provide an independent assessment of scientific performance and act as a community advocate for the mission.