The Boeing Delta II rocket launched NASA's Messenger mission in 2004
Lee Kyung-HO: The first ever spacecraft to orbit Mercury plunges into the planet's surface at a speed of 8,750 miles per hour. NASA's Messenger spacecraft has slammed into the surface of the planet Mercury, ending a successful 11-year-mission. The probe, the first ever to orbit Mercury, had run out of fuel and crashed into the planet's surface at a speed of 8,750 miles per hour. The impact from the crash carved out an estimated 52ft-wide crater. During its mission the spacecraft completed 4,104 orbits of Mercury and collected more than 277,000 images. "A NASA planetary exploration mission came to a planned, but nonetheless dramatic, end Thursday when it slammed into Mercury's surface at about 8,750 miles per hour and created a new crater on the planet's surface," NASA said in a statement. The space
The surface of Mercury in a combination image released by NASA in April 2015. The space probe is expected to end its orbit and make a crash landing into the planet on 30 April
agency added that the mission, which began in 2004, had achieved "unprecedented success". "Going out with a bang as it impacts the surface of Mercury, we are celebrating MESSENGER as more than a successful mission," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The MESSENGER mission will continue to provide scientists with a bonanza of new results as we begin the next phase of this mission - analysing the exciting data already in the archives, and unravelling the mysteries of Mercury."Source: Article
