On this day in space, the launch of the "Messenger" at Mercury

15 years ago, NASA launched the "Messenger" spacecraft for a historic mission in orbit around Mercury in 2004.

According to the US space site, the name of the spacecraft would refer to the Planet Environment mission, launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida at 6:15 am Eastern Time.

The vehicle takes six and a half years to go to the orbit of Mercury, and as Mercury is very close to the sun, the spacecraft heading towards the planet accelerates as the sun rises. attracted.

In addition, to slow down enough to avoid falling in the sun, the vehicle used a multigravity traction en route. He flew 15 flights around the sun before finally reaching the Mercury orbit in 2011.