When Mariner 10 flew past Mercury three times in 1974 and 1975, the probe imaged less than half the planet. In January, during MESSENGER’s first flyby, its cameras returned images of about 20 percent of the planet’s surface missed by Mariner 10. Yesterday, at 4:40 am EDT, MESSENGER successfully completed its second flyby of Mercury, and its cameras captured more than 1,200 high-resolution and color images of the planet – unveiling another 30 percent of Mercury’s surface that had never before been seen by spacecraft.

The spectacular image shown here is one of the first to be returned and shows a WAC image of the departing planet taken about 90 minutes after the spacecraft’s closest approach to Mercury. The bright crater just south of the center of the image is Kuiper, identified on images from the Mariner 10 mission in the 1970s. For most of the terrain east of Kuiper, toward the limb (edge) of the planet, the departing images are the first spacecraft views of that portion of Mercury’s surface. A striking characteristic of this newly imaged area is the large pattern of rays that extend from the northern region of Mercury to regions south of Kuiper. This extensive ray system appears to emanate from a relatively young crater newly imaged by MESSENGER, providing a view of the planet distinctly unique from that obtained during MESSENGER’s first flyby. This young, extensively rayed crater, along with the prominent rayed crater to the southeast of Kuiper, near the limb of the planet, were both seen in Earth-based radar images of Mercury but not previously imaged by spacecraft.

Visit NASA’s MESSENGER site for more images.

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Unfortunately, that was a false promise. Even at the height of the Shuttle program, a student had a better chance of becoming an NBA basketball player than a NASA astronaut. No wonder today’s students show more interest in athletics than math and science.

What if we could turn that around and show students that they have a real chance for a future in space?

The Space Frontier Foundation wants to show students that they have a chance of going to space. And the best way to show students is to send astronaut teachers into American schools to share their spaceflight experience.

Every journey begins with a single step. The Pathfinder program is the first step in the journey toward the goal of putting a thousand astronaut teachers into American classrooms.

Pathfinders will be the first astronaut teachers to fly in space and return to the classroom. These Pathfinders will not only fly in space, they will also help design the three-week training course for the large number of teachers who follow. Pathfinders will also be invited to return each summer to help teach the course.

The project, which has a budget of $20 million, will eventually enable the Space Frontier Foundation to send 200 teachers a year — four from every U.S. state — into space.

Due to the high degree of interest, the deadline for applications is extended to December 4, 2008, but please don’t wait until the last minute. If two candidates whose applications are given identical weighting by the selection committee, preference may be given to the application received first, so do not delay.

You can download an application at the Teachers in Space site.

See you in orbit!

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