Space Probe Scores a 310-Million-Mile Bull’s-Eye with Comet Landing

By Ralph Ellis

Imagination became reality Wednesday when a mechanical space traveler called the Philae probe plunked down on its target, a comet with a much less romantic name — 67P — some 310 million miles from Earth.

European Space Agency scientists and executives high-fived and hugged each other when the landing was confirmed. Spacecraft have crashed into comets before, but this is the first soft, or controlled landing, in history.

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