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On This Day In Space: Sept. 30, 2016: Rosetta spacecraft crashes into a comet

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On This Day In Space: Sept. 30, 2016: Rosetta spacecraft crashes into a comet_6518895e69a06.jpeg

On Sept. 30, 2016, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft purposely crashed into a comet.

Photos: Europe’s Rosetta Comet Mission in Pictures

An artist’s illustration of the European Space Agency’s Philae lander (left) after being released from its Rosetta spacecraft mothership on Nov. 12, 2014 to begin a seven-hour descent to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It is the first time such a soft-landing on a comet has ever been attempted. (Image credit: ESA/ATG Medialab)
Related Stories:

— Now You Can See Every Comet Photo (& More) from Europe’s Rosetta Probe. Enjoy!

— Philae Comet Landing: Big Discoveries About Comet 67P (Infographic)

— How the Rosetta Spacecraft Will Land on a Comet (Infographic)

Rosetta launched in 2004 and spent 10 years chasing down Comet 67P, a rubber-duck-shaped space rock that orbits the sun between Earth and Jupiter.

Rosetta spent the next two years tagging along with the comet as it traveled through the solar system. When it was time for the mission to end, Rosetta gently crashed into the comet.

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