Solar Orbiter launch and preparations in images

ESA’s Sun-exploring spacecraft Solar Orbiter lifted off on an Atlas V 411 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 05:03 CET on 10 February 2020 on its mission to study the Sun from new perspectives. The spacecraft will obtain the closest ever images of the Sun's surface and look at some of the never before seen regions of our parent star, including the poles. The polar regions are critical for our understanding of the Sun's powerful magnetic field, which influences the environment of the entire Solar System.