Mariner 10
![](https://cdn.sci.esa.int/documents/34795/35668/1567214836909-Mariner_10_gravitational_slingshot_625.jpg)
Date: 22 November 2011
Satellite: Mariner 10
Copyright: NASA
Artists' impression of the Mariner 10 mission. The first mission to perform a gravity assist, it used a flyby of the planet Venus in order to decrease its perihelion. This would allow the spacecraft to meet Mercury on three occasions in 1974 and 1975.
Last Update: 1 September 2019