The smallest planet in our solar system was also one of the first studied when, on this day in 1973, the Mariner 10 spacecraft was launched to complete three flybys of Mercury. Mariner returned over 2,700 photos of Mercury revealing that it was very similar to our Moon, with a cratered surface and little atmosphere. Learn more about what Mariner 10 discovered about Mercury and take the quiz below, created from information found at NASA’s SpacePlace website.
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