An Ode to the Rosetta Spacecraft as It Flings Itself Into a Comet

Published: Oct. 3, 2016, 1:49 p.m.

Today, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft will engage its thrusters for one final maneuver: a suicidal plunge toward the comet it has been orbiting for two years and chasing for a decade. After Rosetta collides with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, its systems will go dark. Scientists will never hear from it again.