Cosmic 1st: Spacecraft lands on comet

DARMSTADT, Germany (AP) -- Hundreds of millions of miles from Earth, a European spacecraft made history Wednesday by successfully landing on the icy, dusty surface of a speeding comet - an audacious cosmic first designed to answer big questions about the origin of the universe.<br /> <br /> Paolo Ferri, head of mission operations for the European Space Agency, said the landing on the comet named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko appeared to have been almost perfectly on target.<br /> <br /> "Everyone cried," he said.<br /> <br /> The European Space Agency celebrated the cosmic achievement after sweating through a tense seven-hour countdown that began when the Philae lander dropped from the agency's Rosetta space probe as both it and the comet hurtled through space at 41,000 mph (66,000 kph).<br /> <br /> ESA controllers clapped and embraced at mission control in Darmstadt as they got confirmation that the unmanned Rosetta space had successfully released the 220-pound (100-kilogram), washing machine-sized Philae lander.<br /> <br /> During the descent, scientists were powerless to do anything but watch, because the vast distance to Earth - 500 million kilometers (311 million miles) - made it impossible to send instructions in real time.<br /> <br /> Finally, at 1603 GMT (11:03 a.m. EST), the agency received a signal from Philae after it touched down on the comet's icy surface.<br /> <br /> "We definitely confirm that the lander is on the surface," said flight director Andrea Accomazzo.<br /> <br /> While further checks are needed to ascertain the state of the lander, the fact that it is resting on the surface of the comet is already a huge success, the highlight of a decade-long mission to study comets and learn more about the origins of these celestial bodies.