Space probes have been placed into orbit around all the five planets known to the ancients: first Mars ( Mariner 9, 1971 ), then Venus ( Venera 9, 1975 ; but landings on Venus and atmospheric probes were performed even earlier ), Jupiter ( Galileo, 1995 ), Saturn ( Cassini / Huygens, 2004 ), and most recently Mercury ( MESSENGER, March 2011 ), and have returned data about these bodies and their natural satellites.

rightThe Mariner 10 spacecraft launched on November 3, 1973 and was the first to use a gravity assist trajectory, accelerating as it entered the gravitational influence of Venus, then being flung by the planet's gravity onto a slightly different course to reach Mercury.

In order of increasing distance from the Sun, they are the four terrestrials, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, then the four gas giants, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Divide the distance from the Sun to Saturn into 100 parts ; then Mercury is separated by four such parts from the Sun, Venus by 4 + 3 = 7 such parts, the Earth by 4 + 6 = 10, Mars by 4 + 12 = 16.

Let the distance from the Sun to Saturn be taken as 100, then Mercury is separated by 4 such parts from the Sun.

Captain Grissom then underwent a series of physical and psychological tests and on April 13, 1959, was notified that he had been chosen as one of the seven Mercury astronauts.

Mercury then gave the net to the temple of Anubis at Canopus to protect the sacred spot.

Freddie Mercury ( then known as Farrokh / Freddie Bulsara ) was a fan of Smile, and encouraged them to experiment with more elaborate stage and recording techniques after Staffell's departure in 1970.

In these situations, a planet in retrograde motion — always either Mercury or Venus, from the point of view of the Earth — will " drop back " in right ascension until it almost allows another planet to overtake it, but then the former planet will resume its forward motion and thereafter appear to draw away from it again.

The production then moved to the Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill Gate in London and ran there for several months.

The Mercury then defeated the Los Angeles Sparks in the conference finals, winning 2 – 1 in a series that ended Lisa Leslie's career.

The new model, called the " Mustang II ", was introduced two months before the first 1973 oil crisis, and its reduced size allowed it to compete against imported sports coupés such as the Japanese Toyota Celica and the European Ford Capri ( then Ford-built in Germany and Britain, sold in U. S. by Mercury as a captive import car ).

In January 1964, after several successful albums and lack of money from Vee-Jay, The 4 Seasons left Vee-Jay Records and moved to Philips Records, then a division of Mercury Records.

The game progresses through the Solar system, from the Moon to Mercury, then outbound towards Pluto's moon Charon.

Stevens then signed with Mercury Records with whom Stevens recorded a series of hit records in the 1960s that included songs such as " Ahab the Arab ," " Harry the Hairy Ape ," " Funny Man ," the original recording of " Santa Claus Is Watching You ," and " Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving, Fast-Acting Pleasant-Tasting Green and Purple Pills.

As reported by the Huffington Post, " the article in the San Jose Mercury News was taken at face value, and like a bad case of telephone gossip, repeated and embellished across various media outlets around the world ... which then became quickly duplicated by others in the media.

The Lynx then swept the Phoenix Mercury in two games to win their first conference championship.

The Fever then lost in 5 games to the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA Finals.

On 1 April 1999, Mercury Energy, then the major lines and supply company for Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, was split between lines and supply.

Mercury Energy then became the name of Mighty River's retail business, and the sub-transmission and distribution business of Mercury Energy was renamed Vector.

Ms. Frizzle then takes them to the Sun and then Mercury, Venus and Mars before flying into the asteroid belt.

The model was offered with comparatively few changes through the 1977 model year, and was then discontinued to make room for the new Mercury Zephyr for the 1978 model year.

In summer of 1986, Queen went on their final tour with Freddie Mercury.

He went to several record companies, including Atlantic Records and Mercury ( PolyGram ), but they all turned him down.

Mezzanine went on to win a Q Award for Best Album as well as being nominated for a Mercury Award.

In 1998, 2007, and 2009, the Mercury went to the WNBA Finals ; they lost to Houston in 1998, but won the title in 2007 and 2009 over Detroit and Indiana, respectively.

The Mercury went through coach after coach, and nothing worked.

Taurasi went on to win the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award in the 2004 season, as the Mercury posted a better 17 – 17 record.

Morgan Fisher went on to play piano on Queen's ' Hot Space ' tour in 1982, and Brian May, Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor performed backing vocals on the Ian Hunter solo song, " You Nearly Did Me In ".

At the onset of the WNBA in 1997, she went to the Phoenix Mercury, for whom she played in the Finals in 1998, losing to the Houston Comets.

They went on to repeat as championships, defeating the Phoenix Mercury in the first-ever WNBA Finals that year due to the championship game being extended into a three game championship series.

The following year their glam rock-inspired debut album, Suede, went to the top of the charts, became the fastest-selling debut album in almost ten years and won the Mercury Music Prize, helping kick-start the Britpop movement.

The album went on to win the 1993 Mercury Prize.

* For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey of a Mercury Astronaut, ISBN 0-15-100467-6 or the revised paperback edition ISBN 0-451-21105-7, Carpenter's biography, co-written with his daughter Kris Stoever ; describes his childhood, his experiences as a naval aviator, a Mercury astronaut, including an account of what went wrong, and right, on the flight of Aurora 7.

After winning the Mercury Prize, the band went back to Parr Street Studios, pressing on with recording as much material as they could between tours.

The band went on to win the 2004 Mercury Music Prize, and two BRIT Awards in 2005 for Best British Group and Best British Rock Act.

Given Hathaway's behavior, Mercury said that he decided the recording session could not continue, so he aborted it and all of the musicians went home.

In keeping with the general trend of the times, the old Torino chassis was discontinued after 1979 and all Ford and Mercury intermediates went over to the smaller, lighter Ford Fox platform for 1980.

The band then went through difficulties with their record label, but signed to Mercury Records for 1993's The Downward Road.

Mercury Records consequently dropped the band which went on hiatus in 1995.

Shedd enjoyed what he heard, went to see Keith perform live and then signed him to a recording contract with Mercury.

After realizing that Ford's Talladega ( and its sister ship, the Mercury Spoiler II ) were much more effective as race cars, Dodge went back to the drawing board to create the Dodge Charger Daytona, which managed to win a total of 6 races during the 1969 and 1970 NASCAR seasons.

Following the dissolution of the band, Derek Shulman went on to a highly successful career in the organisational side of the music business ( initially promotion and artist development for PolyGram, followed by A & R at Mercury, becoming president of Atco Records, after which he became President of Roadrunner Records.

Westbound was also home to the Ohio Players before they went to Mercury Records and the label had a top 15 hit with " Funky Worm.

After County Sound merged with Radio Mercury to form Allied Radio, Delta Radio was closed down by its new owners in 1992 and the transmitter went back to being a relay.