NASA spacecraft now circling Mercury

WASHINGTON: For the first time, the Earth has a regular orbit eye-of-the-sky spy on the world smallest and strangest of the solar system, Mercury.
NASA probe called Messenger fired successfully into orbit to spot Thursday night after a journey of 6 and 1/2-year 4.9 trillion miles and delicate maneuvers to counter the gravitational pull of the sun. It is the fifth planet in our solar system that NASA put in orbit, in addition to the Earth and Moon.
He was right on the money, "chief engineer Messenger, Eric Finnegan said. Messenger is in orbit that brings closer than 120 miles above the surface of the planet. "It's the closest you can possibly get to be perfect."
"Everybody was screaming and whooping cough, we're delighted," said Finnegan. "There is much work left to do but we're here."
Mercury is not only difficult to achieve, but it has some of the most extreme in the solar system. He savagely beats temperatures by 1,100 degrees. Although it rises to 800 degrees on the planet nearest the sun, it is so cold and dark in some craters that temperatures are not higher than 300 degrees below zero. Radar even shows that it is likely ice in craters, Messenger, something will try to confirm.
In the 1970s, NASA sent a spacecraft, Mariner, Mercury whistling, but only got pictures of less than half of the tiny rock. Robert Strom, University of Arizona was a scientist on the Mariner missions during and Messenger and he said for a moment he thought he would not get a second look at the eccentric Mercury .