The Human Race just caught a Comet!

[TheOldSchool]

About an hour or so ago "Philae," a probe from the Rosetta Spacecraft orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, successfully landed on the surface of a comet!

The Philae lander separated from the mother ship Rosetta around 3:30 a.m. ET to begin its 7-hour descent.

Philae, which has spent 10 years fixed to the side of Rosetta during the journey across the solar system, could not be steered. Once it was released, it was on its own.

Before the spacecraft separation, O'Rourke told CNN that the orbiter Rosetta had to be in the right position to allow the craft to "free fall" on the correct trajectory to the chosen landing site.

Scientists are hoping the probe will help us learn a lot more about the composition of comets and how they react when they get close to the Sun.

Philae touches down on the surface of a comet - CNN.com

There seems to be some issue with the anchors holding it in place but the mission will continue as planned.

 

[Moonglow]

We should test the theory of hitting the comet with a nuke to see what happens...