The MESSENGER mission to Mercury passed a major milestone on 2 March with a successful Pre-Ship Review. The spacecraft is scheduled for shipment to the Cape Canaveral Air Station on 9 March, to begin preparations for the planned 11 May launch.

Assembly of the MESSENGER spacecraft started early in 2003 when the integrated structure and propulsion system was delivered to the Applied Physics Laboratory. Visit the MESSENGER web site to see how the spacecraft has come together, thanks to the live MESSENGER Webcam, weekly ../../../images and a collection of time-lapse movies.

Also of note, the April issue of Discover magazine has a cover story on Mercury exploration, including the MESSENGER mission.

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