After 10 years of space travel across 4 billion miles the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft meets up with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/07/science/space/spacecraft-pulls-alongside-comet.html?_r=0

http://rosetta.esa.int/

 

Very cool. I used to do research in plant physiology, where the experiments might range up to 6 months from setup to completion. This forced an enormous attention to detail to avoid ruining an experiment that had made it 90% of the way. And planning good experiments was so critical. Forgot the control? Oh well, just have to wait 6 more months.

A >10-year experiment is a huge accomplishment.

 

Hello,

The first "close-up" pictues from the comet are taken:
http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Missions/Rosetta/(class)/image

To send an image to earth will take about 45 minutes, due to the distance.

Bertus