Rosetta's journey

A summary of Rosetta’s journey – from its launch on 2 March 2004 - to the planned landing on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 12 November 2014. The A-roll film includes the spacecraft’s four gravitational assists from Mars and the Earth, flybys with asteroids Steins and Lutetia, its temporary hibernation and successful wake up on 20 January 2014.

In May Rosetta put on the brakes and performed rendezvous manoeuvres for several months. During this period, images from the onboard cameras revealed the comet’s unusual ‘space duck’ shape.

Rosetta arrived at its destination on 6 August and became the first spacecraft to orbit a comet. The primary landing site was announced in September and Rosetta is now on schedule to release its Philae lander onto the comet’s surface in November.

The B-roll contains animations of Rosetta’s journey, its flybys and of the spacecraft catching up with the comet, as well as stills of comet 67P and asteroids Steins and Lutetia. There are also exterior shots of the European Spacecraft Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany and the ‘wake up Rosetta’ event in January.