Space

Photos: What it’s like to be a spacecraft crash-landing into a comet

Comet 67P from 84.3 km away.
Comet 67P from 84.3 km away.
Image: ESA/Rosetta
By
Akshat Rathi
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The European Space Agency terminated the Rosetta mission today, and did it in a spectacular way. It crash-landed the spacecraft, which weighed nearly 3,000 kg (3.3 tons) and had a wing span of 30 meters. All the while, as it descended to its doom, it took pictures. (Here’s what it might have thought about its own death.)

View from 15.5 km

Image for article titled Photos: What it’s like to be a spacecraft crash-landing into a comet
Image: ESA/Rosetta

View from 11.7 km

Image for article titled Photos: What it’s like to be a spacecraft crash-landing into a comet
Image: ESA/Rosetta

View from 8.9 km

Image for article titled Photos: What it’s like to be a spacecraft crash-landing into a comet
Image: ESA/Rosetta

View from 5.7 km

Image for article titled Photos: What it’s like to be a spacecraft crash-landing into a comet
Image: ESA/Rosetta

View from 1.2 km

Image for article titled Photos: What it’s like to be a spacecraft crash-landing into a comet
Image: ESA/Rosetta

View from 20 meters

Image for article titled Photos: What it’s like to be a spacecraft crash-landing into a comet
Image: ESA/Rosetta

We will update this post with any more images we get of the final moments of the Rosetta mission.