A spacecraft will try to land on a comet tomorrow


Three hundred million miles from Earth, the European Space Agency will try to make history tomorrow by landing a spacecraft on a comet.
As part of a 10-year ESA project, the Rosetta spacecraft has been orbiting and studying a 20-trillion-pound space rock in recent months, Wired reports. The comet is called 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Later tonight, Rosetta will release its lander craft Philae toward Agilkia, the 67P landing site. If all goes according to plan, mission controllers will know of a successful landing at 11:02 a.m. EST. Watch the action unfold tomorrow on ESA's livestream.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.
-
Crossword: June 23, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
-
How far would Russia go for Iran?
Today's Big Question US air strikes represent an 'embarrassment, provocation and opportunity' all rolled into one for Vladimir Putin
-
Anshu Ahuja's golden coconut and butter bean curry recipe
The Week Recommends Plump, creamy beans in a sweet, spicy sauce
-
The treasure trove of platinum on the moon
Under the radar This kind of bounty could lead to commercial exploitation
-
Why Elon Musk's satellites are 'dropping like flies'
Under The Radar Fierce solar activity destroying Starlink satellites
-
Dehorning rhinos sharply cuts poaching, study finds
Speed Read The painless procedure may be an effective way to reduce the widespread poaching of rhinoceroses
-
Why is Nasa facing a crisis?
Today's Big Question Trump administration proposes 25% cut to national space agency's budget in 'extinction-level event'
-
Breakthrough gene-editing treatment saves baby
speed read KJ Muldoon was healed from a rare genetic condition
-
Full moon calendar: dates and times for every full moon this year
In depth When to see the lunar phenomenon every month
-
Sea lion proves animals can keep a beat
speed read A sea lion named Ronan beat a group of college students in a rhythmic dance-off, says new study
-
Humans heal much slower than other mammals
Speed Read Slower healing may have been an evolutionary trade-off when we shed fur for sweat glands