Philae became the first spacecraft to land on a comet’s nucleus.
The European Space Agency released Philae from the Rosetta spacecraft toward comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November 2014. After separation, Philae descended for several hours before touching down on the comet’s surface.
Its anchoring harpoons failed to secure it, so the lander bounced and eventually came to rest in an unintended location. Even so, Philae transmitted data from the surface, analyzing the comet’s composition and structure with a suite of scientific instruments.
Rosetta remained in orbit and continued observing the comet, making the mission the first to orbit a comet and deploy a lander onto its nucleus. Giotto had previously flown past Halley’s Comet but did not land.