“Philae is talking to us. First things he told us was that the landing gear has been moved inside, so we are sitting on the surface. Philae is talking to us, more data to come.”

Dr. Stephan Ulamec, manager of the Philae Lander of the European Space Agency’s Rosetta Mission, which earlier today set the Philae lander down on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

“We are on the comet!”

After the landing confirmation, some comments from Roberto Battiston, president of the Italian space agency.

“A small jump for the robot. A giant jump for mankind. So we have now Philae, which has gently landed on this strange place on a strange world, as a result of so many years of collaboration. And the fun is now beginning—because the science of this tremendous journey is going to start.”

—Steve Mirsky

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]