Mariner 10’s Mercury flybys
NASA’s Mariner 10 mission performed several close flybys of Mercury from February 1974 to March 1975. Mariner 10 captured thousands of photos over the course of its mission, including the highest-resolution images ever taken of Mercury’s surface. It was our first close-up view of the tiny planet, showing craters as small as 500 feet (150 meters) across. The image above, taken on March 29, 1974, was captured when Mariner 10 was 3,700 miles (5,900 kilometers) from the surface, and it revealed a very Moon-like topography.
