NASA has finally sent a spacecraft on a mission to fly where no probe has ever gone before into the sun’s scorching outer atmosphere.

The probe took off at 3.31 ET (8.31 BST) this morning.

It was initially set to launch at 3.33am ET (8.33am BST) yesterday, but poor conditions meant it was pushed back 24-hours.

The unmanned spacecraft is on an unprecedented quest that will take it straight through the edges of the corona, or outer solar atmosphere, just 3.8million miles from the sun’s surface.

Previously, the closest an aircraft had come to the sun was 27million miles.

Preparing to launch: The probe gets ready for take-off at T-minus one second this morning.