NASA’s MESSENGER (MErcury Surface Space ENvironment GEochemistry Ranging) mission has come to a crunching end with the crash landing of the craft onto the planet Mercury at around 2000 GMT on 30 April 2015. The mission, which was built by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, was launched in 2004. The craft made a series of “braking” flybys before entering orbit around the planet in March 2011. Since then as it orbited the planet, making scientific observations as it did so. MESSENGER’s images and scientific observations have added to scientific knowledge about the planet including the fact that ice water does actualy exist in shadowed craters on this otherwise “hot planet” lying so close to the Sun. The craft made its final manoeuvres with what remained of its fuel load earlier in April.