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Mission record

MESSENGER

Also known as MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging, Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging

NASA, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory · Launched

Explore trajectory

Completed · Success

NASA Discovery-class orbiter, built and operated by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, that became the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. After one Earth, two Venus and three Mercury gravity-assist flybys it entered Mercury orbit on 18 March 2011 UTC, characterised the planet's surface composition, geological history, magnetic field and exosphere, verified water ice in permanently shadowed polar craters, and ended by impacting Mercury on 30 April 2015 after exhausting its propellant.

Destinations
Mercury, Venus, Earth
Launch vehicle
Delta II 7925H
Launch site
Cape Canaveral, Florida (SLC-17B)
Countries
United States
Mission types
Orbiter, Flyby

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launch on a Delta II 7925H from Cape Canaveral

    Launched on a Delta 7925H (a Delta II Heavy with nine strap-on solid-rocket boosters); the spacecraft was injected into solar orbit 57 minutes later. Recorded at minute precision because sources disagree on the second (06:15:56 vs 06:15:57 UT).

    Earth

  2. Gravity assist

    Earth gravity-assist flyby

    One year after launch MESSENGER flew by Earth at an altitude of 2,347 km; the flyby was also used to calibrate the spacecraft's instruments.

    Earth

  3. Gravity assist

    First Venus gravity-assist flyby

    Flyby at an altitude of 2,990 km, set up by a 524-second thruster burn on 12 December 2005 that changed the spacecraft velocity by 316 m/s.

    Venus

  4. Gravity assist

    Second Venus gravity-assist flyby

    Flyby at an altitude of approximately 338 km, during which MESSENGER returned visible and near-infrared imaging of the upper atmosphere and particles-and-fields data.

    Venus

  5. Flyby

    First Mercury flyby

    First of three Mercury flybys, all at roughly 200 km altitude; returned the first images of the side of Mercury not seen by Mariner 10.

    Mercury

  6. Flyby

    Second Mercury flyby

    Second Mercury gravity-assist flyby at roughly 200 km altitude.

    Mercury

  7. Flyby

    Third Mercury flyby

    Third Mercury flyby at a distance of 228 km. The spacecraft entered safe mode during the encounter, which truncated the planned science observations but did not eliminate the flyby's science return.

    Mercury

  8. Orbit insertion

    Mercury orbit insertion

    First spacecraft to orbit Mercury. A 15-minute burn beginning at 00:45 UT on 18 March 2011 (8:45 p.m. EDT on 17 March) supplied a delta-V of 0.862 km/s, placing MESSENGER in a roughly 200 x 15,193 km, 12-hour, 82.5-degree-inclination orbit.

    Mercury

  9. Milestone

    Orbital science observations begin

    Science observations from Mercury orbit began on 4 April 2011.

    Mercury

  10. Milestone

    Primary one-year orbital mission completed

    MESSENGER completed its primary yearlong mission on 17 March 2012, having taken nearly 100,000 images of Mercury's surface; the mission was subsequently extended twice.

    Mercury

  11. Impact

    Planned impact on Mercury's surface

    After exhausting its propellant, MESSENGER impacted Mercury as planned at 19:26 UT (3:26 p.m. EDT) at about 8,750 mph (14,080 km/h), creating a new crater. NASA gives approximate impact coordinates near 54.4 degrees north, 149.9 degrees west, near Janacek crater in Suisei Planitia. The impact occurred on the side of the planet facing away from Earth and was not directly observed.

    Mercury

  12. Mission end

    End of operations confirmed

    Mission control confirmed end of operations a few minutes after impact, at 3:40 p.m. EDT, when no signal was detected by the Deep Space Network station at Goldstone at the time the spacecraft would have emerged from behind the planet. The mission ended after more than four years and 4,105 orbits of Mercury.

    Mercury

Mission architecture

Vehicles

Trajectory record

Trajectory dataset not yet available

No verified trajectory dataset is committed for this mission, so Mission Atlas renders no path.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through August 23, 2026