File:Mariner 10.jpg

Summary
The Mariner 10 probe, the first probe to visit Mercury. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mariner_10.jpg This model of Mariner 10 shows the spacecraft as it appeared during flight. The Mariner 10 mission required more course corrections than any previous mission and was the first spacecraft to use the gravitational pull of one planet to help it reach another planet. This craft was also the first to use the solar wind as a means of locomotion; when the probe's thruster fuel ran low, scientists used the solar panels as sails to make course corrections.