Already a historic achievement, Europe's Rosetta mission marks first-ever touchdown on 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko

Rosetta's orbiter and lander have sent back first images of the 100-kg probe's descent.

During checks on the lander’s health overnight, mission managers found its active descent system, which uses a cold-gas thrust to avoid spacecraft rebound at the moment of touchdown, cannot be activated.

After more than a decade spent cruising through deep space to rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, ESA's Rosetta mission is preparing to deploy a small lander to its surface early Wednesday, a process that mission managers liken to moving an object from one speeding bullet to another.

"It's an honor for me to work with these guys." said ISS commander Maxim Suraev, as Expedition 41 drew to a close late Sunday.

NASA’s Wallops Incident Response Team has reported on its initial assessment following the catastrophic failure of Orbital Science’s Antares rocket…

"Keep those updates coming," European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst urged NASA's Mission Control as the scheduled 3:39 p.m. Dragon spashdown off the U. S. West Coast neared. .