This is ecstasy: Professor can't contain her emotions at Rosetta landing
The emotion in this video shows what the successful Rosetta mission means to the world.
Professor Monica Grady, from Open University, was overcome by sheer joy as the European Space Agency (ESA) completed one of the biggest space feats in history. The Rosetta spacecraft dropped the Philae lander onto comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and it landed safely at 8:03 a.m. AEDT on Thursday.
At the ESA’s mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, there were ecstatic celebrations as Philae landed on the comet, which was flying between Jupiter and Mars at 64,400 kilometres per hour (40,000 miles per hour). It is the first time humans have landed a robot on a comet.
Grady jumped for joy as she struggled to get words out due to her emotions: “It’s landed! I’ve waited years!” she screamed. “I’m just so excited… it’s fantastic… it’s wonderful!”
She has been part of the ride for the 6.4 billion-kilometre (4 billion-mile) journey that has taken a decade to complete. It was worth the wait for this perfect reaction.
