Philae has landed!

Nov12

So, so happy right now. Philae is safely down on the surface of the comet, “Its landing gear has been drawn back into the lander and it is sitting on the surface!” “It’s talking to us”.

Just waiting now for the first photos from the surface …

Such a massive, extraordinary achievement. I can’t say how proud I am of all the ESA scientists and engineers and others involved.

Shortly after parting from Rosetta, the lander Philae took a shot of its mothership., Rosetta, here seen above the sun flare.

Shortly after parting from Rosetta, the lander Philae took a shot of its mothership, Rosetta, here seen above the sun flare.

Philae soon after separation, photographed from Rosetta.

Philae soon after separation, photographed from Rosetta.

Philae on its way, photographed from Rosetta.

Philae on its way, photographed from Rosetta.

Last shot of Philae from Rosetta.

Last shot of Philae from Rosetta.

Before today, humankind had landed spacecraft on only six other celestial bodies: the moon, Mars, Venus, Titan (one of Saturn’s moons) and two asteroids.* This is the seventh. An amazing, stunning, superb achievement. Congratulations.

* (in 2005 NASA’s Deep Impact mission intentionally crashed an impactor into comet Tempel 1 in order to study the resulting debris cloud; it doesn’t quite count as a ‘soft landing’, and no data was sent back from the surface of the comet).