NASA's MESSENGER mission to Mercury ended recently and, having run out of fuel, the spacecraft was crashed into the planet. But in the last months of its life, the probe did exciting and risky ...

The planet Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, and also the most difficult for spacecraft to visit and explore. This is because as spacecraft get closer to Mercury, the sun's enormous gravity ...

One of the most remarkable moments in early space exploration occurred during the final mission of NASA’s Mercury program. Astronaut Gordon “Gordo” Cooper spent more than a day in orbit aboard the ...

Wally Funk, a pioneering aviator, member of the Mercury 13, and the oldest woman ever to travel into space, has died, ...