Mars graduate John Schmitmeyer worked on parts for NASA's Parker Solar Probe.

A man from Mars sent his work to touch the sun.

Seriously.

Mars High School Class of 1998 graduate John Schmitmeyer designed hoses that are part of the cooling system for NASA's Parker Solar Probe.

The $1.5 billion mission, launched Aug. 12 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, is expected to shatter spaceflight records and send home ground breaking insight as it travels to and through the sun's corona.

Schmitmeyer said since NASA first contacted his team at Cleveland-based Hose Master in 2010, everyone has been enthusiastic about the project.

“But it didn't feel as special until everyone else started talking about it,” he said. “(The probe) will provide an entirely new understanding of how our sun works. It's really neat to be a part of that.”In 2010, Schmitmeyer was a product engineering supervisor when the company was approached by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, which manages this mission for NASA.The assignment was to custom design four all-metal hoses to transport coolant to and from the probe's solar panels to keep it cool as it approaches the sun.<i>A full story will appear in the Eagle.</i>

This long exposure photograph provided by NASA, shows the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket as it launches NASA's Parker Solar Probe, from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.