Rosetta's Philae lander touches down on comet

from cbsnews.com

ByDAN WOOCBS NEWSNovember 12, 2014, 7:55 AM

Mission control receives signal confirming first successful landing on the surface of a comet 317 million miles away

Flight controllers and mission managers react to data from European Space Agency’s Rosetta probe confirming release of Philae comet lander early Wednesday  EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY

Comet landing

A historic attempt to land a spacecraft on a comet was set in motion Wednesday by scientists at the European Space Agency, despite a last-minute problem with the landing system. It was the climax of a decade-long mission to study a 2.5 mile wide lump of dust and ice known as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It marked the end of a 4 billion-mile journey that Rosetta and its sidekick craft, Philae, made together to reach the comet.