On 4 March 2005, Rosetta made the first of three flybys at Earth.
Moonrise over the Pacific, 4 March 2005
This stunning image by Rosetta’s navigation camera captures the Moon rising above the Pacific at 22:06 UT, just three minutes before closest approach during the 4 March 2005 flyby, which took Rosetta past Earth at a distance of 1954.74 km.
While various cloud formations in the foreground first catch the eye, the image also reveals the delicate nature of Earth’s atmosphere as a thin veil that separates us from the harsh space environment.
Rosetta swung past Earth again in 2007 and 2009 (and also Mars in 2007) for gravitational kicks to boost it onto its comet-chasing orbit.
Discussion: one comment
And on this day in 2014, the status of Rosetta is … what? No updates on the post-wake-up checkout here since January 29, and the Twitter feed launched with some fanfare is also not used for any *news*. Why total silence re. Rosetta’s re-commissioning, while on the other hand the commissioning of Gaia is documented in a lot of detail? Having talked to ESA outreach folks last year I had expected just the opposite.