Pair of spacecraft draw closer to Mercury after decade-long voyage

By MARCIA DUNN  AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Two Mercury-bound spacecraft left their mother ship behind on Thursday and headed down the home stretch of their nearly decade-long voyage to the solar system’s smallest and closest-to-the-sun planet. The linked European and Japanese spacecraft separated as planned from their cruiser, but controllers had…