Launched on a Boeing Delta II rocket, MESSENGER lifted off
from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida at 02:15:56 EDT on August 3,
2004 with the goals to determine the chemical composition of Mercury's surface,
its geologic history, the nature of the planet's magnetic field, the size and
state of the core, the volatile inventory at the poles, and the nature of
Mercury's exosphere and magnetosphere.
However, MESSENGER's most important mission is yet to come:
its Mercury orbit insertion will be on March 18, 2011, beginning a year-long
orbital mission which will see a lot more data sent to Earth.
