On this day in space! Sept. 2, 2016: Rosetta spacecraft finds long-lost Philae lander on Comet 67P after 2-year search
On September 2, 2016, the European Space Agency successfully located the Philae lander on Comet 67P after it had been missing for two years. The discovery provided closure to the Rosetta mission shortly before its conclusion.
Why it matters
The Rosetta mission remains a landmark achievement in space exploration, providing critical data on the composition and behavior of comets.
The European Space Agency's Philae lander made history as the first ever to soft-land on a comet. Then it disappeared.
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Click for next article Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter On Sept. 2, 2016, the European Space Agency finally located Philae, its long-lost comet lander. Philae was a spacecraft about the size of a washing machine, and it was dropped off at Comet 67P by another spacecraft named Rosetta in November 2014.
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