Philae performed the first controlled landing on a comet when it reached comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November 2014.
The lander travelled to the comet attached to ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft. After separation, Philae descended for about seven hours. Its anchoring harpoons failed to fire, so it bounced twice before coming to rest in a shadowed location later nicknamed Abydos.
Despite its awkward landing, Philae operated instruments that photographed the surface, analysed its chemistry and drilled into the comet’s material. Its primary battery lasted about 60 hours, after which limited sunlight eventually caused the lander to fall silent.
Rosetta was the orbiter, not the lander. Stardust returned comet particles to Earth, while Deep Impact deliberately struck comet Tempel 1.