Story highlights NASA's Messenger probe smashes into Mercury, ending mission

Space probe hit the planet's surface at 8,750 mph

(CNN) NASA says its Messenger space probe crashed into Mercury on Thursday after running out of fuel, ending a nearly 11-year journey that provided valuable data and thousands of photos.

Mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, confirmed the probe slammed into the surface of Mercury, as anticipated, at 3:26 p.m. EDT, NASA told CNN in an email.

NASA earlier said the probe was expected to hit the surface at 8,750 miles per hour and to create an impact crater 52 feet (16 meters) in diameter.

The crash wasn't visible from Earth because it occurred on the far side of Mercury.

Messenger (an acronym for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) was launched in 2004 and traveled more than 6½ years before it started circling Mercury on March 18, 2011.