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Posted By: §intå× Mercury Probe Launched - 08/03/04 08:26 PM
NASA has launched the Messenger spacecraft early this morning, the first spacecraft to be sent to Mercury in three decades. The launch was due yesterday, but was delayed because of bad weather conditions (sn reported).

One flight controller described the mission as "A voyage of mythological proportions," following Messenger shedding its last rocket. The launch went off without a hitch, and director Chuck Dovale said "That looked wonderful."

The Messenger does not have enough fuel to fly directly to Mercury, and it will loop the sun 15 times before finally settling into obit around the sun's closest planet, sometime in 2011 if everything runs smoothly.

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