A summary of Rosetta’s journey – from its launch on 2 March 2004 – to the planned landing on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 12 November 2014. The journey has included four gravitational assists from Mars and the Earth, flybys with asteroids Steins and Lutetia, and the spacecraft’s temporary hibernation and successful wake up on 20 January 2014.
In May Rosetta put on the brakes and performed rendezvous manoeuvres for several months. During this period, images from the onboard cameras revealed the comet’s unusual ‘space duck’ shape.
Rosetta arrived at its destination on 6 August and became the first spacecraft to orbit a comet. The primary landing site was announced in September and Rosetta is now on schedule to release its Philae lander onto the comet’s surface in November.
