Mission scientist reacts to historic first images from the surface of a comet

When a European landing probe goes for a daring touchdown on a comet Wednesday, officials say it would help to have a little luck on their side.

Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera witnessed Philae’s descent to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

The sharp-eyed science camera on Europe’s Rosetta comet orbiter caught a view of the probe’s fuzzy shadow when controllers guided the spacecraft just a few miles over its subject’s nucleus last month.