MESSENGER, NASA’s first mission to Mercury in almost 30 years, successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on the morning of 3 August 2004 at 2:15:56 am. Sean Solomon, DTM’s director and the mission’s principal investigator, was present for the launch along with many others who worked on the project, which began formally in late 1999. MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging), from its position aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket, was pushed into a solar orbit less than an hour after launch and from that starting point has begun a 4.9-billion mile journey towards an eventual insertion into orbit around the planet Mercury in 2011. Before reaching this final destination, the spacecraft will fly by the planets Earth (once), Venus (twice), and Mercury (three times) during which it will test its suite of seven instruments and gather early scientific data. To view the launch video and to learn more about this mission please go the MESSENGER website.