Waterside view of Delta 4 GPS 2F-6 Launch

Ready for a journey into the sun’s enigmatic, scorching corona, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has been encapsulated inside the nose cone of its Delta 4-Heavy rocket for liftoff Saturday.

A Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 36B at Cape Canaveral on May 19, 2004, carrying the AMC-11 high-definition TV broadcasting satellite. It was the penultimate mission for the Atlas 2AS, which was fitted with four strap-on solid rocket boosters.

Shielded from view within the protective rocket nose cone, a covert surveillance satellite has been mounted atop a Delta 4-Heavy rocket for launch June 4.