spacetoday.net: Delta launches MESSENGER

Posted: Tue, Aug 3, 2004, 10:12 AM ET (1412 GMT)
Delta 2 launch of MESSENGER (NASA/KSC)

A Delta 2 successfully launched NASA's first mission to Mercury in three decades on Tuesday. The Delta 2 7925H lifted off from pad 17B at Cape Canaveral, Florida at 2:16 am EDT (0616 GMT) Tuesday and placed the MESSENGER spacecraft into a solar orbit 57 minutes later. The launch had been scheduled for Monday but was delayed 24 hours because of weather. MESSENGER, an acronym derived from MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, Geochemistry, and Ranging, will fly past Earth once and Venus twice as it makes its way into the inner solar system. The spacecraft will fly past Mercury three times before settling into orbit around the innermost planet in March 2011. The spacecraft will be the first mission to visit Mercury since NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft flew past the planet three times in the mid-1970s.