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NASA spacecraft now circling Mercury — a first (orbit is right on the money)
Yahoo ^ | 3/17/11 | AP

Posted on 03/17/2011 8:44:44 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

WASHINGTON – For the first time, Earth has a regular orbiting eye-in-the-sky spying on the solar system's smallest and strangest planet, Mercury.

NASA's spacecraft called Messenger successfully veered into a pinpoint orbit Thursday night after a 6 1/2-year trip and 4.9 billion miles and tricky maneuvering to fend off the gravitational pull of the sun. It is the fifth planet in our solar system that NASA has orbited, in addition to the Earth and the moon.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: circling; mercury; messenger; nasa
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To: C210N

LOL. You went a long way for that one.


21 posted on 03/17/2011 11:51:55 PM PDT by The Cajun
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To: Little Pig

Thanks.


22 posted on 03/18/2011 12:09:23 AM PDT by ForGod'sSake (You have only two choices: SUBMIT or RESIST with everything you've got!!!)
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To: Cyman

Hooray for Captain Spalding, the African explorer -

Did someone call me Shnorer?

Hooray, hooray, hooray!

Yes, I once shot an elephant in my pajamas;
How he got into my pajamas, I’ll never know....


23 posted on 03/18/2011 12:12:18 AM PDT by Jack Hammer
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To: NormsRevenge

"Can someone land it in the shopping mall
next to where the astronauts first planted
an American flag during the 7th Lunar Landing?"

24 posted on 03/18/2011 6:23:57 AM PDT by theDentist (fybo; qwerty ergo typo : i type, therefore i misspelll)
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To: theDentist

I am disappointed in NASA. Could someone explain to me just how this helps moozlums learn about space technology (nobama’s ordered purpose of NASA)?


25 posted on 03/18/2011 6:28:14 AM PDT by hal ogen (1st amendment or reeducation camp?)
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To: hal ogen

Back in the days of real early history, 1930 or something, Abba ka-Dabra was looking at the Sun through a magic crystal and noticed a bright dot near the sun. He named it “mihir ku ri” which translates to “Mohammed’s goat”. NASA decided to investigate to see if it really was a goat, and to confirm his discovery.


26 posted on 03/18/2011 6:53:40 AM PDT by theDentist (fybo; qwerty ergo typo : i type, therefore i misspelll)
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To: GeronL
cool.

Uh, considering it's Mercury we're talking about, that's probably not how I'd describe it.

27 posted on 03/18/2011 7:32:08 AM PDT by zeugma (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam)
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To: NormsRevenge
received the anticipated radiometric signals confirming nominal burn shutdown

Radiometric?  Didn't we used to call this telemetry?

Wouldn't 'radiometric' refer to readings of solar radiation?

radiometer (rā'dē-ŏm'ĭ-tər) A device used to detect or measure radiation.

28 posted on 03/18/2011 7:32:40 AM PDT by zeugma (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam)
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To: NormsRevenge

When will it circle Uranus?


29 posted on 03/18/2011 7:33:22 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Jack Hammer

A Washington DC cab driver was at the controls


30 posted on 03/18/2011 7:38:42 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. N.C. D.E. +12 ....( History is a process, not an event ))
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To: bert

A buck eighty-five from Africa to here???? That’s an outrage...


31 posted on 03/18/2011 7:53:15 AM PDT by Jack Hammer
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