elemental Tungsten is the metal with the highest melting point. Likely some alloys have higher MPs. Diamond doesn't melt at atmospheric pressure, but it sublimes at about 200°C higher than the MP of tungsten. Tantalum Hafnium Carbide is not a metal, it is a ceramic and has a MP of 800° higher than tungsten's. -=- It is "closest" not "closer". Either "which metal can come closest" or "which metal can come closer than all others" For an "-er" word, it has to have something to compare to. Sometimes, it is implicit; "closer to you", but your sentence has no implied referent. -=-=- I actually can not answer your question. The above did not answer it. The temperature of space between Earth and the Moon is over one million degrees. Why don't our spaceships, the space station and satellites all melt? Because there is almost no gas there to transfer its heat to our machines. As a probe approaches the Sun, the temperature is not as important as the amount of electromagnetic energy being absorbed by the skin. That is why gold foil is often used on probes and satellites. You would rapidly loose consciousness if your body temperature became the same as that of the water you swim in. Your body actively heats and cools itself, protecting your brain and other organs from the harmful effects of temperature change. A probe can use refrigeration to keep its skin cool. Of course, there are other harmful effects of the radiation around the Sun. Its not just temperature or light. Anyway. You need to at least think of a block of metal reflecting and also radiating some of the light (emr) that is hitting it.