article_snippet.sent: (CNN)NASA says CNN)NASA Messenger space probe crashed into Mercury on Thursday after running out of fuel, ending a nearly 11-year journey that provided valuable data and thousands of photos.
article_snippet.sent: Mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, confirmed the probe slammed into the surface of Mercury, as anticipated, at 3:26 p.m. EDT, NASA told CNN in an email.
article_snippet.sent: NASA earlier said its Messenger space probe was expected to hit the surface of Mercury at 8,750 miles per hour and to create an impact crater 52 feet (16 meters) in diameter.
article_snippet.sent: Messenger (an acronym for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) was launched in 2004 and traveled more than 6½ years before Messenger (an acronym for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) started circling Mercury on March 18, 2011.
article_snippet.sent: Messenger (an acronym for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) was the first spacecraft to orbit the planet closest to the sun.
article_snippet.sent: Messenger (an acronym for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) traveled about 5 billion miles -- a journey that included 15 trips around the sun.
article_snippet.sent: Spacecraft to make death dive into Mercury .
highlights_snippet.sent: NASA's Messenger probe smashes into Mercury, ending mission .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Space probe hit the planet's surface at 8,750 mph .