Published on March 21, 2017
The last photo transmitted by Messenger before it crashed into the surface of Mercury.
Mercury probe Messenger’s mission has finally come to a close, with the spacecraft hurtling into the planet’s surface at a speed of 8,750 mph (14,082 kph) at 3:26 p.m. EDT on Thursday.
As it plummeted, having used the last of its fuel to position itself into the gravitational pull of Mercury, the probe still continued to take photographs of the planet’s surface. The final image transmitted back to Earth is of the floor of the 58-mile-wide (93 km) Jokai crater.
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