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The probe raced over the surface of the little world at an altitude of just 200km (125 miles), before heading back out into deep space. Controllers plan a further five such flybys, each time using the gravitational tug of Mercury to trim the speed of the spacecraft. The aim is for Bepi to be moving slow enough it can drop into a stable orbit. This should happen by the end of 2025. The probe was busy snapping pictures to send home, but not with its high-resolution science cameras. These can't actually see anything currently because they are tucked inside what...

TOKYO (Reuters) - A European-Japanese spacecraft set off on a treacherous seven-year journey to Mercury to probe the solar system’s smallest and least-explored planet. The BepiColombo mission, only the third ever to visit Mercury, blasted off from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket at 10:45 p.m. local time on Friday (0145 GMT on Saturday), according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). “Launching BepiColombo is a huge milestone for ESA (the European Space Agency) and JAXA, and there will be many great successes to come,” ESA Director General Jan Woerner said in a statement. “Beyond completing...

"An Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket will launch a new mission to Mercury tonight, to send a set of spacecraft to the innermost planet! The joint mission by the European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will lift off at 9:45 p.m. EDT (0145 GMT) from a pad at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. You can watch the launch live here, beginning at 9:15 p.m. EDT (0115 GMT), courtesy of ESA."