Posted: Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 7:35 AM ET (1135 GMT)
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, which entered orbit around the planet Mercury earlier this month, has returned its first image from orbit. The image, released Tuesday by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, which operates the spacecraft, shows a portion of the planet's southern hemisphere, including a large crater named Debussy. More images are slated for release in a press conference on Wednesday. MESSENGER entered orbit around Mercury on March 17, and is scheduled to begin regular science observations in early April.

Related Links:

•  SPACE.com article
•  MSNBC article
•  Wired News article
•  Science News article
•  APL press release