As it happened: Rosetta comet landing

Summary

Confirmation received of the first ever comet landing
Successful touchdown of the landing robot Philae marks climax of 10 year, 6.4 billion km journey
Esa confirms the harpoons designed to attach Philae to the comet did not fire, but its smaller screws appear to have dug into the surface
Philae was released at 08:35 GMT and took seven hours to reach comet 67P
Pictures have been received of the descent in progress - more are now eagerly awaited from the comet surface
Live video from the European Space Agency's operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany

Live Reporting

Jonathan Webb, Melissa Hogenboom and Victoria Park

#CometLanding trending worldwide on Twitterpublished at 16:31 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
@NancySteinman tweets:, external Federation of planets, here we come. Congrats to @Philae2014 and its team. #CometLanding. @That_MarcC tweets:, external My 95-year-old mother-in-law watched the #CometLanding on a laptop. @Philae2014 @ESA_Rosetta
...and relaxpublished at 16:30 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
Jonathan tweets:, external One of the "fathers" of the @ESA_Rosetta mission, Gerhard Schwehm, says he intends to smoke a cigar.
Congratulations flood inpublished at 16:25 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
"Today's successful landing by Rosetta's Philae lander, a major contribution to this mission by the German Space Agency (DLR), at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a tremendous accomplishment," says Space Foundation's Elliot Pulham.
"We congratulate our partners at DLR and ESA for achieving yet another milestone during this ambitious mission."
Tweets from our correspondents in Darmstadtpublished at 16:24 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
David Shukman, external, BBC Science Editor:
"Wow, they did it - @Philae2014 is now sitting on a comet. Harpoons fired. Incredible atmosphere. People quite can't believe it - nor can I."
Rebecca Morelle, external, BBC Global Science Correspondent:
"Can't believe they've done it - @esa's Mark McCaughrean very emotional at success - a huge moment #CometLanding #Rosetta"
Monica Grady, space scientist at Open Universitypublished at 16:19 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
Monica says the landing happened "bang on time".
She tweets, external: "Break out the bubbly....no, got to wait to hear from @Philae_Ptolemy, external #CometLanding"
Ptolemy is an instrument that will do chemical analysis, "sniffing" the surface of the comet.
Close callpublished at 16:18 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
The mission was almost postponed in the early hours of the morning, says Esa's very happy Prof Mark McCaughrean, live on BBC News as he heard the news.
Emma Lakdawalla, The Planetary Societypublished at 16:14 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
tweets, external: Stephan Ulamec: It has done its job, we are on the comet. *mic drop* #CometLanding
Image source, ESA
Postpublished at 16:14 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
tweets:, external I just saw @Philae2014 co-PI Jean-Pierre Bibring carrying two bottles of champagne
Postpublished at 16:11 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
"Philae is talking to us," Stephan Ulamec has told the cameras.
Touchdownpublished at 16:08 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
It may not have been as graceful as this illustration, but the message has reached Earth - and spread around the world on Twitter:
Philae, external just landed on a comet!
Image source, ESA
Postpublished at 16:07 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
tweets, external: Well, I guess that means tears of joy. I think we just bagged comet. @Philae2014 checks now ongoing but it appears to be alive on the comet.
Philae Landerpublished at 16:06 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
tweets: , externalTouchdown! My new address: 67P! #CometLanding
Postpublished at 16:04 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
There seems to be some movement in the control room... And cheers. Many cheers!!
More tense moments...published at 16:02 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
Rebecca Morelle
Science Correspondent, BBC News
tweets:, external Argh!!! This wait is horrible #CometLanding - watching mission control and waiting for #rosetta
"The wait is nearly over," she tells us from Darmstadt.
Phil Plaitpublished at 15:55 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
tweets:, external It's weird to think Philae is down, and the signal from it is just now passing by Mars on its way to Earth.
Moments to treasurepublished at 15:54 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
This already seems like an old triumph - but here is Holger Sierks, the chief investigator on the OSIRIS part of the project, sharing a moment with BBC Sky at Night's Prof Chris Lintott.
They had just sighted the first image of Philae's descent.
Sam Cristoforetti, soon flying to the International Space Stationpublished at 15:48 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
tweets:, external This gives me the shivers. 500 million km from Earth, a human-made robot is attempting a #cometlanding. Right now.
What is going on up there?published at 15:46 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
What's happening now on Philae as it approaches the surface?
Well, its onboard commands have told it that the landing is imminent. For 40 minutes prior to the expected touchdown, all data and images that it is collecting are being stored onboard, hopefully for retrieval later.
Much like a voice-data recorder on an aeroplane, this storage system works on a loop. If the preparation periods lasts longer than 40 minutes, any data recorded at the beginning of the landing window will be over-written.
This ensures that the very latest data, acquired just as Philae touches down, is the information that gets preserved.
Alexander Gerst, Esa astronaut, living and working on the International Space Stationpublished at 15:43 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
tweets:, external GO @Philae2014 good luck for touchdown! @ESA_Rosetta, myself and the world are with you! #CometLanding
Whatever happens, it will be on the radio...published at 15:43 Greenwich Mean Time 12 November 2014
Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
Don't forget, whatever the outcome you can join me for a special Frontiers programme about Rosetta and Philae on BBC Radio 4 tonight at 21:00 GMT