From the Earth to Mercury

On August 2, the MESSENGER spacecraft performed a gravity assist flyby of Earth to change trajectory and build speed for Mercury, during which it took 358 pictures with its on-board wide-angle camera. These photos have since been sequenced into a stunning QuickTime movie documenting the view from MESSENGER as it departed Earth, chronicling one complete rotation of the planet.

The camera started rolling when MESSENGER was 40,761 miles above South America, and the last picture was taken 24 hours later when it was 270,847 miles away – farther than the Moon’s orbit.