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  • Over 10 years had passed since Rosetta and Philae

  • launched on their exciting mission

  • to comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

  • After three months investigating the comet from orbit

  • it was time to send Philae to its surface.

  • A long night of final preparations lay ahead of them.

  • Finally the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived.

  • As the world held its breath,

  • Rosetta moved into the exact position needed

  • to make sure Philae would reach the landing site

  • that scientists on Earth had picked earlier in the mission.

  • Philae and Rosetta were sad to be going their separate ways.

  • But excited at the same time.

  • Because this is what they had been waiting to do.

  • Philae was away.

  • It would take seven hours to reach the surface.

  • But Philae wanted to get started on his measurements right away.

  • He could soon see the surface in incredible detail

  • And the moment he had been dreaming of had finally arrived.

  • He had reached the surface of the comet.

  • But all was not right.

  • His harpoons did not fire.

  • Philae realised he couldn't relax yet.

  • He was rising from the surface again.

  • Philae was scared he might drift off the comet completely.

  • This was not in the plan.

  • But eventually he came back down again.

  • However, as he looked around,

  • he realised he had landed in a completely unexpected location.

  • Philae immediately set to work on studying his new home.

  • It took him just over two days to conduct

  • all the experiments he had brought with him.

  • After all his hard work, Philae began to feel tired.

  • So he made sure to send all the data he had collected back to Rosetta.

  • As the Sun set over Philae's new home

  • he fell into a deep sleep, safe in the knowledge

  • that he did his main job well and that his family of comet chasing heroes

  • would be proud of his achievement.

  • Who knows perhaps one day enough sunlight would fall on his new landing site

  • and wake him up so that he could carry on

  • investigating this incredible world.

  • And so as the comet moved over closer to the Sun,

  • Rosetta prepared for the next part her exciting adventure.

  • To be continued

Over 10 years had passed since Rosetta and Philae

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