Solar Orbiter Venus Flyby

Solar Orbiter, a partnership between ESA and NASA, flew by Venus on 27 December with a closest approach of 7500 km at 12:39 UTC. Throughout its mission it makes repeated gravity assist flybys of Venus to get closer to the Sun, and to change its orbital inclination, boosting it out of the ecliptic plane, to get the best – and first – views of the Sun’s poles.