Once Upon a Time There Was a Spacecraft Called Rosetta…

The road to a comet isn't an easy one! Luckily Rosetta and Philae have a lot of help.

…and that time is now! ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft is just over a mere two weeks away from its arrival at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (which has recently surprised everyone with its binary “rubber duckie” shape) and the excitement continues to grow — and rightfully so, since after ten years traveling through the Solar System Rosetta is finally going to achieve its goal of being the first spacecraft to orbit a comet!

As part of the “Are We There Yet” campaign to encourage public participation in this historic space exploration event, ESA has released the next installment of Rosetta’s story in adorable animated format. Check it out above, and feel free to fall in love with a solar-powered spacecraft.

Keep up with Rosetta’s journey on the ESA website here, and enter the #RosettaAreWeThereYet contest by sharing your photos here (you could win a trip to ESA’s Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany in November for Philae’s landing party!)

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Video: ESA

Jason Major

A graphic designer in Rhode Island, Jason writes about space exploration on his blog Lights In The Dark, Discovery News, and, of course, here on Universe Today. Ad astra!