Journey To Mercury
Jul. 26th, 2004 04:30 pmA spacecraft named Messenger rocketed away Tuesday on a 5 billion-mile (8 billion-kilometer) journey to Mercury, the closest planet to the sun and a stranger to camera close-ups for the past three decades.
NASA launched Messenger in the pre-dawn moonlight on the roundabout ramble through the inner solar system. The 6½-year trip should have started a day earlier, but clouds from Tropical Storm Alex postponed liftoff.
“A voyage of mythological proportions,” a flight controller announced as soon as Messenger shed its final rocket stage.
NASA launched Messenger in the pre-dawn moonlight on the roundabout ramble through the inner solar system. The 6½-year trip should have started a day earlier, but clouds from Tropical Storm Alex postponed liftoff.
“A voyage of mythological proportions,” a flight controller announced as soon as Messenger shed its final rocket stage.