NASA Missions to Mercury

Mariner 10 was the first spacecraft to Mercury. The spacecraft was launched on November 3, 1973. The information scientists found from that spacecraft were that Mercury had no atmosphere and a cratered, moon-like surface. Mercury also was shown to have a small magnetic field. It also found that Mercury had water on the planet. MESSENGER was another space- craft  that orbit Mercury to find more about it. It was launched on August 3, 2004. The MESSENGER is still in space and is expecting to come back to Earth on March 2012. The future mission to Mercury is BepiColumbo. It is expected to launch on August 2013. By a European Space Agency. (ESA)

Mariner 10

MESSENGER

BepiColumbo