On Aug. 3, 2004, NASA launched the MESSENGER spacecraft on a historic first mission to orbit the planet Mercury.
The spacecraft's name stands for the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging mission. It blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 6:15 a.m. Eastern Time and spent the next six and a half years making its way to Mercury's orbit. Because Mercury is so close to the Sun, a spacecraft travelling toward the planet speeds up as the sun's gravity pulls it in. In order to slow down enough to avoid falling into the sun, MESSENGER utilized the gravitational pull of Venus and Mercury with multiple flybys along the way. It made 15 trips around the sun before it finally arrived in Mercury's orbit in 2011.
The spacecraft's name stands for the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging mission. It blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 6:15 a.m. Eastern Time and spent the next six and a half years making its way to Mercury's orbit. Because Mercury is so close to the Sun, a spacecraft travelling toward the planet speeds up as the sun's gravity pulls it in. In order to slow down enough to avoid falling into the sun, MESSENGER utilized the gravitational pull of Venus and Mercury with multiple flybys along the way. It made 15 trips around the sun before it finally arrived in Mercury's orbit in 2011.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:04In 2004, NASA launched the Messenger spacecraft on a historic first mission
00:08to orbit the planet Mercury. The spacecraft's name stands for the
00:12Mercury Surface Space Environment Geochemistry and Ranging Mission.
00:16It blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 615 AM
00:20Eastern Time and spent the next six and a half years making its way to Mercury's orbit.
00:24Because Mercury is so close to the sun, a spacecraft traveling
00:28toward the planet speeds up as the sun's gravity pulls it in. In order to slow
00:32down enough to avoid falling into the sun, Messenger utilized the gravitational pull
00:36of Venus and Mercury with multiple flybys along the way. It made
00:4015 trips around the sun before it finally arrived in Mercury's orbit in 2011.
00:44And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:48NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology