Spacecraft to go very near Mercury BALTIMORE — A NASA spacecraft will fly by the planet Mercury today, the first visit to the sun’s closest neighbor since the 1970s. The space probe Messenger will skim 124 miles above the planet’s surface, the first of three passes before it settles into orbit three years from now. The flyby will provide up-close views and, in a few weeks, pictures. Scientists are hoping that what they learn next week will help them begin to answer lingering questions about the planet’s origin, magnetic field and atmosphere, and what that means about our own planet.
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