Mercury-bound spacecraft on home stretch of nearly decade-long voyage: ‘brilliant moment’

On Thursday, two linked European and Japanese spacecraft successfully separated from their mother ship, marking the beginning of the final phase of their nearly decade-long journey to Mercury. This critical maneuver occurred as planned, though confirmation of the separation took two anxious hours to arrive via radio signals at the European Space Agency's control center in Germany. The spacecraft are now on the home stretch of their voyage to Mercury, the solar system's smallest and closest planet to the sun.