Space veicle "Mariner-10".

It was nothing known about the nearest to the Sun planet before the spaceship flight "Mariner-10", launched in the 3d of November 1973 and flied to the Mercury in the 29 of March 1974. The snapshots of the surface showed an astonishing similarity the Moon's and Mercury's reliefs. There were no atmosphere on the Mercury. The traces of argon, helium and hydrogen were found out, but not in a large amount.

During the first flight to Mercury, carried on the height of 705 km they discovered the percussion wave of plasma and the magnetic field near Mercury. During the second flight they determined the duration of a Mercury day (88 terrestrial days) the day temperature was 510°C and the night one was about 210°C. The heat flood radiated by the surface was also determined.

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