European Space Agency Director-General jean-Jacques Dordain described the historic landing of the Philae craft on the icy grey comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as a “big step” for humans. Scientists managed to finally succeed after harpoons failed to attach it to the surface on the first attempt. ESA’s Rosetta satellite carried the robotic probe on a 6.4 billion-km journey to the comet.

ESA’s mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, received the news of the first landing with joy on Wednesday but this was quickly overshadowed when reports of the unanchored state of Philae arrived. After a two-hour gap a second landing was attempted however the third landing, 10 minutes, afterwards was the one that proved successful.

The celebration:

MISSION FACTS

* The Philae lander traveled 6.4 billion kms to reach the comet in a journey that took 10 years
* The planning of the project started 25 years ago
* Comet 67P is shaped like a rubber duck, over four billion years old and is a mass of 10 billion tons hurtling through space at 18 kms/hour

See if you can land a comet – play the interactive comet game!

More photos of the mission –