Watch the Action as Rosetta Crashes into a Comet

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Source:  Lee Billings, Scientific American

Excerpt: Follow the pioneering spacecraft’s final descent to the bizarre surface of the distant space traveler.... Shortly before 5 A.M. Eastern time on Friday, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft [did] gently fire its thrusters for a few minutes and begin a 14-hour descent to Comet 67P, a mountain-size, snowy dust ball drifting through the darkness that reigns more than half a billion kilometers from the sun. Starved of solar power, Rosetta’s mission is coming to an end after more than a decade of operations, concluding with a crash into the comet it has shadowed through deep space for two years.  [Includes links to other articles about Rosetta's successes.] See also Silence, hugs, and applause as Rosetta’s 12-year mission ends with landing on comet, by Daniel Clery, and  New York Times article Rosetta Mission Ends With Spacecraft’s Dive Into Comet

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/watch-the-action-as-rosetta-crashes-into-a-comet/

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