March 17, 2011 Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 dwayne.c.brown@xxxxxxxx Paulette Campbell Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md. 240-228-6792 paulette.campbell@xxxxxxxxxx MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-061 NASA TV TO COVER MESSENGER SPACECRAFT ENTERING MERCURY'S ORBIT WASHINGTON -- NASA Television and the agency's website will carry live coverage from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT Thursday as the first spacecraft enters Mercury's orbit. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, which operates the MESSENGER spacecraft, is conducting the webcast from its mission control building in Laurel, Md. NASA's MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging, or MESSENGER, is scheduled to enter the planet's orbit at approximately 9 p.m. after conducting more than a dozen laps through the inner solar system for the past 6.6 years. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/messenger -end- To subscribe to the list, send a message to: hqnews-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To remove your address from the list, send a message to: hqnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx