Seven Hours of Terror

The final stage of this mission has an Oscar worthy name. Scientists working on the launch have chosen the name that accurately sums up just how complicated this maneuver will be.

For the first time in the history of the world, or as long as homo sapiens could record things, humans are attempting to successfully land a man made device on a comet. My pom-poms are ready.

NASA first attempted this in 2005, with it’s Deep Impact probe. The probe was destroyed attempting to land.

The actual landing takes place just after 10:30 am EST Wednesday. The probe, Phila, will touchdown on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. I’ve nicknamed him Churi, for short.

Whether or not the mission is successful, the project is 10 years in the making and is a huge feat just to be attempted. They’re only attempting to land on a speeding ball of gas and ice!

Did anyone notify the Pentagon the Europeans are doing this? Where is the outrage? Where is our patriotism when oil is not involved?

ESA will be live streaming the entire event. The first go ahead was issued at 2pm EST. There will be more go/no go decisions (as listed below) to make sure the lander is fully ready to detach and then final positioning before landing.

ESA’s schedule:

2PM ET (November 11th): Livestream begins with a media update. Also the first of several go/no-go decision points.
7–8:30PM ET: Two more go/no-go decisions, as the crew confirms the lander is ready for separation.
1AM ET (November 12th): The fourth and final go/no-go decision point; a final preparation maneuver.
4:03AM ET: The scheduled lander separation.
7AM ET: Expected science update/first pictures.
9AM ET: Last preparations before landing.
11AM ET: Scheduled time for landing on the comet, plus or minus 15 minutes.