Video: Mission control celebrates separation but anxiety builds over landing

This animation shows Comet Siding Spring’s path as it comes within 132,000 kilometres (82,000 miles) of Mars on 19 October 2014.

Rosetta mission scientist Matt Taylor says the science team is jubilant after the Philae lander captured the historic, first close up images of the surface of a comet and began returning data from its science instruments.

Research teams across Europe spent the last half-year meticulously going through a wish list of experiments for the Philae comet lander without knowing whether they would ever get a chance to execute the tasks.