On this day in space! NASA launches MESSENGER spacecraft to orbit Mercury

On Aug. 3, 2004, NASA launched the MESSENGER spacecraft on a historic first mission to orbit the planet Mercury. The spacecraft's name stands for the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging mission. It blasted off on a Delta II rocket that launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:15 a.m. Eastern Time and spent the next six and a half years making its way to Mercury's orbit. Because Mercury is so close to the sun, a spacecraft travelling toward the pla