MESSENGER completed its third trajectory correction maneuver since launch - and its last of 2004 - trimming its speed and tweaking its course toward the Earth flyby next August.

The 48-second burst from MESSENGER's hydrazine-fueled thrusters reduced the spacecraft's velocity by just over 7 miles per hour relative to the Sun - easing it into a cruising speed of about 62,030 miles per hour. The maneuver started at 2:30 p.m. EST on Nov. 18; mission operators at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD, began tracking it about two minutes later, when the first signals indicating thruster activity reached the NASA Deep Space Network tracking station near Madrid, Spain.

MESSENGER, now nearly 22.8 million miles from Earth, is in good health and operating normally. Detailed checkouts of the science instruments and subsystems continue. The solar-powered spacecraft continues to fly with its sunshade away from the sun, allowing it to keep its key systems warm without using power for heaters. Since launch last August 3, MESSENGER's computers have executed more than 15,000 commands from mission control.

Visit the Mission Design section of the MESSENGER Web site for graphics and more details on the latest trajectory correction maneuver. The next "TCM" is tentatively planned for March 10, 2005.