NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft to Mercury makes the first of two Venus flybys
NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft to Mercury makes the first of two Venus flybys
MESSENGER performed a successful Earth swingby a year after launch, on 2 August 2005, with the closest approach at 19:13 UTC at an altitude of 2,347 km (1,458 statute miles) over central Mongolia.
On December 12, 2005, a 524 second long burn (’Deep-Space Maneuver’ or ‘DSM-1′) of the large thruster adjusted the trajectory for the upcoming swing-by
Next will follow two swings past Venus on 24 October 2006 and June 6, 2007, and three more past Mercury on 14 January and October 6, 2008 and September 29, 2009, successively slowing down the spacecraft. Mercury orbit insertion will be on March 18, 2011, beginning a year-long orbital mission.
Right now…let’s focus on 24 October event
