National pride: The Philae has landed

“The Philae has landed”. Not since the first moon landing of 1969 have words like this described a defining moment in human achievement. 

After being launched nearly 10 years ago, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission finally reached a milestone at 4.02pm Irish time yesterday, placing its Philae lander on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.