Posted by Ray Katz in NASA, current, history
Mariner 10 got to Mercury first.
Mariner 10 image of Mercury...from the 1970s!
Exploration of Mercury didn’t begin with the recent success of the Mercury Messenger, which successfully became the first spacecraft ever to orbit that planet just a few days ago.
Amazingly, NASA flew a probe to Venus back in March 1974! Mariner 10 went past Venus, used that planet for a gravitational assist, before slingshoting towards Mercury. The craft flew by Mercury three times and managed to map about 40% of the surface. Following it’s final flyby, the craft went into orbit around the Sun and lost all ability to communicate with Earth. It is still orbiting the Sun today.
Finally, we are about to fill in the gaps left by that early mission. The Messenger has already begun sending back images. And by staying in orbit, it should be able to gather mountains of data.
