On this night in science
The first landing on a comet
November 12, 2014
On this day in 2014, a small lander called Philae dropped from its mothership, Rosetta, and touched down on a comet, the first time anything had ever landed on one. Its little anchors didn't catch, and the comet's pull was so gentle that Philae bounced, twice, before it finally came to rest.
Why it mattered
Philae and Rosetta let scientists study a comet up close, a leftover from the time when the planets were first forming.
Wonder together
If you weighed almost nothing, how high do you think you could bounce?