Rosetta's Philae lands on comet 67P and enters the history books

By Euronews

Published on 12/11/2014 - 17:12

The European Space Agency (ESA) has landed a probe on a comet. It is a first in space exploration and the climax of a decade-long mission to get samples from what are the remnants of the birth of Earth’s solar system.

The box-shaped Philae lander touched down on schedule at 1700 CET after a seven-hour descent from the Rosetta spacecraft around a billion kilometers from Earth.

Scientists hope that samples from the surface of the comet will help show how planets and life are created.

Rosetta reached the comet, a roughly 3-by-5 km rock discovered in 1969, in August after a journey of 6.4 billion km that took 10 years, 5 months and 4 days – a mission that cost close to 1.4 billion euros.

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