Watch: Rosetta Spacecraft Meets Comet

 By 
Stan Schroeder
 on 
Watch: Rosetta Spacecraft Meets Comet
Artist impression of ESA's Rosetta approaching comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The comet image was taken on 2 August 2014 by the spacecraft's navigation camera at a distance of about 500 km. The spacecraft and comet are not to scale. Credit: Spacecraft: ESA/ATG medialab; Comet image: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

Here's a chance to witness a world first: the European Space Agency (ESA)'s Rosetta spacecraft is scheduled to meet the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet today at 4AM ET.

Launched in March 2004, Rosetta completed several fly-bys of Earth and Mars and imaged two asteroids before entering hibernation in June 2011. It was awaken from its slumber on Jan. 20, 2014, to finally fulfill its destiny: a rendezvous with a comet, the first human-made spacecraft to do so.

Nearly there! MT @Philae2014: #AreWeThereYet ? I've added some NavCam pics of #67 to our scrapbook. pic.twitter.com/Eb5GK8I7Kc— ESA Rosetta Mission (@ESA_Rosetta) August 6, 2014

If everything goes according to plan, Rosetta will escort the comet during its orbit around the sun and deploy a lander to its surface.

Watch the live stream of the mission below!

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