MESSENGER – Spaceflight Now

February 26, 2026

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Messenger mission ends with plunge into Mercury

April 30, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Messenger spacecraft closed out a successful four-year tour in Mercury’s orbit Thursday with a cataclysmic crash into the scorching planet after consuming its last gasps of fuel.

NASA spacecraft to get bonus time studying Mercury

December 26, 2014 Stephen Clark

Running low on fuel after completing the first global survey of Mercury, NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft could get an extra month of time at the solar system’s innermost planet thanks to a crafty new way of using helium gas to temporarily forestall the mission’s end next year.