12 August 2015 | Space

Video – Pieces of the Puzzle – Philae on Comet 67P

Philae's landing on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (#CometLanding) on 12 November 2014 was a historic moment – the first time in the history of space exploration that a spacecraft landed on a comet. Millions of people across the world followed the Rosetta mission via the Internet.

The DLR Video 'Pieces of the Puzzle – Philae on Comet 67P' provides an insight into the 'roller coaster ride' on the day of the #CometLanding: "We had to make decisions, develop concepts, alter schedules, sleep briefly and return – and then do the whole thing again and again. There was not a moment to breathe." In the video, Koen Geurts, Philae's Technical Manager, looks at the days immediately after the landing and the following seven months of waiting for a renewed sign of life from Philae. The 'crazy year' was to continue, as on 14 June 2015, the comet lander once again reported back. However, the connections thus far have been irregular and unstable. And so, all those involved in the Rosetta mission must examine the pieces of the puzzle together to decipher what is happening 266 million kilometres from Earth.

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DLR (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

'Pieces of the puzzle - Philae on Comet 67P' is part of the DLR-produced videos for the Rosetta mission:

#CometLanding: The day of the landing on Comet 67P (19 December 2014)

Landing on a comet – The Rosetta mission (23 October 2014)

Trailer – Landing on a Comet – The Rosetta mission (14 October 2014)

Chasing a comet - the Rosetta mission (15 January 2014)

News from the Lander Control Center LCC is published as short videos (#VideoUpdates) on the DLR social media channels– Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and the Philae2014 Twitter account. Detailed information can be found on the DLR special Rosetta mission site or at the Rosetta blog maintained by our ESA colleagues.

Also of interest – the videos 'The working of Philae… the comet lander' ...

... and ‘How Philae got its name' on the DLR YouTube channel.