BepiColombo spacecraft sends its first images of Mercury during flyby

European-Japanese probe swoops in to almost 200km above Sun's nearest planet, photographing its pock-marked features

The European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft has sent back its first images of Mercury, as it swung by the solar system's innermost planet while on a mission to deliver two probes into orbit in 2025.

The mission made the first of six flybys of Mercury at 11.34pm GMT on Friday, using the planet's gravity to slow the spacecraft down.