Nasa has launched a probe that will get closer to the sun than any other spacecraft before it.

The Parker solar probe, a robotic spacecraft the size of a small car, launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Sunday, embarking on a seven-year mission during which it will fly into the sun's corona – the outermost part of its atmosphere – within 3.8m miles (6.1m km) of its surface.

Scientists are aiming to collect data about the inner workings of the highly magnetised corona, to better understand the causes of solar wind.

The launch had been delayed by a last-minute technical problem on Saturday