Historic Comet Landing is Amazing

It's a historical day in the field of space exploration today, as the Philae probe successfully landed on comet 67P -- the first comet landing ever.

The probe, about the size of a small washing machine, had to travel through space on the Rosetta spacecraft, and catch up with the comet, which is hurtling through the solar system at some 34,000 mph. The probe, unable to be steered, then had to detach from Rosetta and freefall to the low-gravity comet, and not only land, but attach itself, so as to not bounce back off into space.

Now, are you wondering the purpose of landing a probe on a comet?

Comets are icy hunks of rock, dust, gas and other material that were created during the formation of the solar system. By studying comets, we might be able to learn more about how earth formed, how water got to the planet, and how we all got here.

Think of it like studying dinosaur fossils...but in space.

By learning about where this stuff came from and how it happened...we can look ahead to the future! (Imagine if we could create life on other planets? Whoaaaa.)

Very cool!