Sunday, November 30, 2014

November was an Amazing Month for Space Exploration!

Credit: European Space Agency - ESA
In the above photo taken on October 7th, the Philae lander of the Rosetta Mission took this self portrait of the side of the Rosetta spacecraft and one of Rosetta's solar arrays.  The Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is just 10 miles in the background.  Philae descended to the comet's surface on November 12th.  Rosetta is the first mission in history to rendezvous with a comet, escort it as it goes around the Sun and deploy a lander to its surface.
View of the Comet on November 20.  Credit: European Space Agency - ESA

And there was the successful launch of three new crew members to the International Space Station on November 23rd: