The BepiColombo spacecraft, a joint project by the European and Japanese space agencies swung by its destination planet Mercury in the early hours of Saturday, Oct. 2. Passing within just 124 miles (200 kilometers) of the surface of Mercury, it sent back some spectacular pictures.
The captured image shows the northern hemisphere and Mercury's characteristic pock-marked features.
The mission is named after Italian scientist Giuseppe "Bepi" Colombo, who is created with helping develop the gravity assist manoeuvre that NASA's Mariner 10 first used when it flew to Mercury in 1974.
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