It was evening in the U.S.A. when the IRIS (Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph) space probe was launched using an Orbital Science Pegasus XL rocket brought to an altitude of about 13,000 meters (about 39,000 feet) by an airplane Orbital Science L-1011 modified for this purpose. In a short time, IRIS has been brought into a Sun-synchronized polar orbit, where its solar panels deployed regularly and it sent the first signals.

The IRIS spacecraft will aim an ultraviolet telescope towards the region of the Sun between its surface and the area of ​​the outer atmosphere called the corona. With its observations it will allow us to understand how energy moves from the surface to the corona warming from a temperature of about 6,000 degrees Kelvin to reach millions of degrees.