The Sun is a star that we cannot touch due to its intense heat. Although the surface is the coolest part of this star, it still reaches temperatures of 5,504 degrees Celsius, a threshold hot enough to burn nearly any material on Earth. If we cannot set foot there, let’s imagine how close humanity could get to the Sun before turning to dust.
*The Sun is 150 million km away from Earth.
“Our current protective clothing technology is not designed to withstand deep space,” said Ralph McNutt, an engineer at NASA. A standard spacesuit will keep astronauts comfortable when external temperatures rise to 120 degrees Celsius, and the closest an astronaut can get to the Sun is 4.8 million km. If the temperature in space exceeds 120 degrees Celsius, the protective suit becomes a sauna, leading to dehydration and potentially fatal consequences.
If we were to approach the Sun using a space shuttle, we could get even closer to this star. The reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) thermal shield allows the spacecraft to withstand external temperatures nearing 2,600 degrees Celsius. According to McNutt, if the entire spacecraft is enveloped in this shielding, astronauts could fly within 2 million km of the Sun. However, at that distance, the spacecraft would need to turn back immediately, as temperatures above 2,600 degrees Celsius would quickly render the protective layer ineffective.
