On Jan. 9, 1959, NASA selected the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation to develop the Mercury spacecraft, which would later carry the first American astronauts into space, Alan Shepard and Virgil “Gus” ...

"BepiColombo's main mission phase may only start two years from now, but all six of its flybys of Mercury have given us invaluable new information about the little-explored planet." The ...

A European-Japanese spacecraft has beamed back some of the best close-up photos yet of Mercury's north pole as part of only the second human survey of our solar system's innermost planet.

Mercury is coming into better focus through the BepiColombo mission. The spacecraft flew by the planet on Jan. 8, snapping a stunning set of closeups as it went. The images show the planet’s ...

This image provided by European Space Agency shows close-up photos of Mercury's north pole taken by the European-Japanese spacecraft BepiColombo. (European Space Agency via AP) ...