--- description: It's the first spacecraft to approach a comet title: European Spacecraft Rendezvous With Comet After Ten-Year Hunt image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt030196f9bed51e12/69869e8935ba6f214fc034fb/rosetta.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Space](/tag/space/) ## Space Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # European Spacecraft Finally Hooks Up With Comet After Ten-Year Pursuit ## Video: ESA Cheers As Rosetta Orbits Comet [Watch (HLS stream): ESA Cheers As Rosetta Orbits Comet](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dca9PQgp.m3u8) (0:52)  _Published 2014-08-06_ by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 6, 2014 1:37 PM CUT  Picture taken on August 3, 2014 by ESA's space probe Rosettas OSIRIS narrow-angle camera shows the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Picture taken on August 3, 2014 by ESA's space probe Rosettas OSIRIS narrow-angle camera shows the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.ESA/AFP/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 6, 2014 1:37 PM CUT The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft has entered the orbit of the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, ending a decade-long hunt to become the first vehicle to [rendezvous](http://www.esa.int/Our%5FActivities/Space%5FScience/Rosetta/Rosetta%5Farrives%5Fat%5Fcomet%5Fdestination "undefined") with one. Rosetta and comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko are halfway between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, about 405 million kilometers from Earth, and are traveling at the speed of nearly 55,000 kilometers per hour, the ESA said Wednesday. Rosetta will accompany the comet for over a year of its 6.5-year orbit of the sun. Rosetta, launched in 2004, had to make three complex gravity-assist flybys of Earth and one of Mars to help it towards the comet. Rosetta will seek to understand the nature of the comet through an in situ study. Comets are one of the primitive building blocks of the Solar System and may have helped “seed” Earth with water, ESA said. During its approach, Rosetta already discovered indications that the comet was emitting water vapor into space at about 300 milliliters per second. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3085918/rosetta-comet-esa-sun/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3085918/rosetta-comet-esa-sun/"},"headline":"European Spacecraft Finally Hooks Up With Comet After Ten-Year Pursuit","datePublished":"2014-08-06T13:37:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:31:37.698Z","description":"Rosetta will accompany the comet for over a year of its 6.5-year orbit round the sun","url":"https://time.com/3085918/rosetta-comet-esa-sun/","keywords":["Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt030196f9bed51e12/69869e8935ba6f214fc034fb/rosetta.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt030196f9bed51e12/69869e8935ba6f214fc034fb/rosetta.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SPACE-EUROPE-COMET-ROSETTA","caption":"SPACE-EUROPE-COMET-ROSETTA","creditText":"ESA/AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3085918/rosetta-comet-esa-sun/","name":"European Spacecraft Finally Hooks Up With Comet After Ten-Year Pursuit"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"ESA Cheers As Rosetta Orbits Comet","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/dca9PQgp/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-06T15:44:34.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dca9PQgp.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3085918/rosetta-comet-esa-sun/","duration":"PT52S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3085918/rosetta-comet-esa-sun/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```