KEY EVENTS: August 3, 2004 --
MESSENGER Launch
August 2005 -- Earth flyby
October 2006 -- Venus flyby
June 2007 -- Venus flyby
January 2008 -- Mercury flyby
October 2008 -- Mercury flyby
September 2009 -- Mercury flyby
March 2011 -- Yearlong science orbit of Mercury begins
MISSION HISTORY: July 1999 -- NASA selects MESSENGER as the seventh Discovery Program mission
December 1999 -- Preliminary design begins
July 2001 -- Final design and construction phase begins
February 2003 -- Spacecraft integration and testing begins
December 2003 -- MESSENGER moves to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center for final space-environment testing
March 2004 -- MESSENGER arrives at Astrotech Space Operations (near Kennedy Space Center) for final pre-launch preparations
July 15, 2004 -- Mission/Science media briefing live from NASA Headquarters at 1 p.m. EDT
July 29, 2004 -- Science and Technology
Webcast live from KSC at 1:30 p.m. EDT
July 30, 2004 -- Mission and Spacecraft Overview
Webcast live from KSC at 1:30 p.m. EDT
July 31, 2004 -- Launch Readiness/Science media briefing live from KSC at 1 p.m. EDT