On This Day In Space: March 2, 2004: Rosetta spacecraft launches to Comet 67P (Image Credit: Space.com)
On March 2, 2004, the European Space Agency launched the Rosetta mission to study Comet 67P.
Rosetta would later become the first spacecraft to orbit a comet. It was also the only mission to attempt a soft landing on a comet.
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Rosetta launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana and spent the next decade chasing after Comet 67P. When it arrived in 2014, Rosetta dropped a small lander called Philae onto the comet. Philae had a rough landing and went missing after it tumbled across the comet.
Rosetta’s cameras finally spotted Philae just three weeks before the end of the 12-year mission. In the end, Rosetta intentionally crash-landed into the comet.
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