​Passage: The Philae comet landing

Passage: European Space Agency lands craft on comet

It happened this past week... the greatest show OFF Earth.

Historic spacecraft landing on a fast-moving comet

The Philae Lander set down on a comet more than 300 million miles from Earth on Wednesday -- the culmination of a 10-year mission by the European Space Agency.

Its landing was far from perfect. In fact, the lander bounced TWICE before setting down in the shadows beside a cliff -- blocking light from Philae's rechargeable solar panels.

Which is why on Friday controllers attempted to rotate the probe, in hopes of exposing it to more sunlight.

At the same time, it drilled into the surface, mining precious data about the four-and-a-half billion-year-old comet.

Philae's mother ship, the Rosetta, will now evaluate the data, in hopes of answering questions about the origins of the universe.


The Philae has now fallen silent.

But the reams of photos it's already sent back speak volumes.


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