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Shortly after the European Space Agency announced the probe was successfully rooted atop the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet 500-million kilometres from Earth, an ESA twitter account posted a photo taken just three kilometres from the surface.

The shot was taken by Philae’s Rosetta Lander Imaging System (ROLIS) — a down-facing camera designed to capture images of the comet as the 22-pound lander made its approach. After landing, ROLIS will get close-ups of the surface to “study the texture and microstructure,” the ESA said.

Early Wednesday, Philae separated from the Rosetta spacecraft, beginning a tense, seven-hour descent to the comet.

“We are on the comet,” scientists announced around 11 a.m.

But thrusters that were meant to push the lander onto the surface and harpoons that would have anchored it to the comet failed to deploy properly. Initial data from the spacecraft indicated that it lifted off again, turned and then came to rest.

“Today we didn’t just land once; we maybe even landed twice,” said Stephan Ulamac, head of the landing operation.

While further checks were needed to ascertain the state of the washing machine-sized lander, the fact that it was resting on the surface of the comet was already a huge success — the highlight of Rosetta’s decade-long mission to study comets and learn more about the origins of these celestial bodies.

Glimpses of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from the mission so far: