50 Years Ago Planetary Science

Decades-old idea brought to fruition: a mission to Mercury

Excerpt from the February 6, 1965 issue of Science News Letter

Messenger maps

GLOBAL COVERAGE  The MESSENGER probe created these maps of Mercury based on thousands of images.

NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

By Christopher Crockett

- More than 2 years ago

Mercury flyby proposed — An unmanned space probe that would pass 1,100 miles from Venus and then come within 4,700 miles of Mercury has been proposed.