Since I’m a baseball fan, I’m used to hearing the adage about how hard it is, actually, for a moving ball and a moving cylinder to make contact. From a physics’ point of view, that is. We should be surprised that it happens at all, let alone well enough to produce, say, a grand slam.
Europe’s Rosetta Mission, however, managed something a million times more precise and precarious this week, when they maneuvered a spaceship–Philae–to land on a moving comet, 317 million miles from Earth.
According to the New York Times, there were a few glitches, but the mission is considered a success. I, too, would be hugging my colleagues if I managed to be part of this team! What a phenomenal feat!
- Success! The Rosette Mission Team.
While I’m not sure I’d ever be brave enough to travel off-planet and to new locations in space, I’m more than intrigued and fascinated. I hope that I live to see the day when we make First Contact, or manage to establish living quarters on another planet. Like the Golden Age science-fiction writers, I’m antsy to explore new worlds, even if I would do so vicariously though the pages of periodicals.
And who knows…maybe I would have the guts to go myself. As long as there were coffee, I suppose…
- Coffee, Nectar of the Gods
Chang, Kenneth. “Landing on a Comet, a European Space Agency Mission Aims to Unlock the Mysteries of Earth.” The New York Times 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
This blog originally published as a sample for students on my school blog.