Description
Artist's impression of the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft as it leaves Earth, following its Aug. 3, 2004 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. aboard a Delta II rocket. The spacecraft will fly past Earth once, Venus twice and Mercury three times before starting a yearlong orbital study of the innermost planet in March 2011.
For information regarding the use of images, see the MESSENGER image use policy.
