NASA Spacecraft Messenger established itself as the first to circle Mercury, the smallest planet in the solar system, when it was able to veer a pinpoint orbit after a 6 ½ year trip and traveling 4.9 billion miles.

According to Eric Finnegan, Messenger’s chief engineer, the spacecraft is approximately 120 miles above the surface of Mercury. While the planet is difficult to reach, Mercury also has the most extreme weather condition. Temperatures swing wildly by 1,100 degrees. Even if the temperature can hit 800 degrees in Mercury, its cold and dark craters do not even reach more than 300 degrees sub zero.

The closest NASA had been to Mercury was in the 1970s when the spacecraft Mariner was only able to take photographs of half of the tiny rock. University of Arizona’s Robert Strom worked as a scientist for both Messenger and Mariner and thought he would not be able to get another shot at reaching Mercury.

Facing reporters from the Associated Press, Strom said that the mission was difficult especially when the desk-sized spacecraft was transformed into an egg-shaped orbit. Aside from that, changing commands was quite difficult as well as it would require eight minutes for signals to reach the approximately 100 million miles from Earth to Mercury.

A NASA Twitter account using Messenger’s name gave a blow-by-blow account as it reached Mercury. The ship exchanged tweets with Voyager 2, the agency’s oldest and farthest spacecraft. Commissioned in 1977, Voyager 2 is now stationed at the edge of the solar system.

Spacecraft Messenger was launched in 2004 with a budget of $446 million. By April, it should be sending pictures and explore the mysteries of Mercury’s magnetic fields and unusual density. According to Sean Solomon, the spacecraft’s Chief Scientist, this is where the real mission commences. This is the first step in learning about one of Earth’s closest neighbors, added Solomon.

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