How long does it take to get to mercury?

Mariner 10 took 147 days to get from Earth to Mercury. More recently, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft launched on August 3, 2004 to study Mercury in orbit. It made its first flyby on January 14th, 2008. That's a total of 1,260 days to get from Earth to Mercury. read more

At its closest point, Mercury gets to within 77.3 million km away from the Earth. Let’s see how long it takes for various spacecraft to get to Mercury. For starters, let’s look at how long light itself takes to make the journey. Light takes only 4.3 minutes to travel from the Earth to Mercury when they’re at their closest point. read more

One example is the Mariner 10 from back in the 70s. On November 3, 1973, this spacecraft was launched and was headed toward Mercury. By the time it arrived, it was March 29, 1974. So, you can estimate that with the right conditions, it would take you about four months to get from Earth to Mercury. read more

Exposure level: Overall mercury level for each of the two main forms of mercury (methylmercury, related to your fish/seafood consumption, and inorganic mercury, related to dental amalgam exposure) 2. read more