NASA's Parker Solar Probe has reestablished contact with Earth, confirming that it survived Tuesday's closest-ever approach to the sun.

On the heels of a NASA spacecraft's historic close flyby of the sun on Christmas Eve, scientists on Earth have one question on their minds: Did their probe survive as an epic Christmas gift, or is it a burned up lump of coal in space?

NASA's Parker Solar Probe flew closer to the sun than any human-made object ever — a stunning technological feat that scientists liken to the historic Apollo moon landing in 1969.