Last command

Paolo Ferri, sitting, head of ESA’s mission operations, surrounded by the Rosetta flight control team and Patrick Martin, in the white shirt, the Rosetta mission manager, sends the final command to the history-making Rosetta spacecraft on 30 September 2016.

This photo was taken at ESA’s mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, some 90 minutes before radio contact with Rosetta was lost forever at 11:19 GMT (13:19 CEST).