Adler Planetarium To Monitor Craft's Comet Landing
CHICAGO (AP) -- The Adler Planetarium is giving visitors a chance to monitor the first controlled landing of a spacecraft on a comet.
The planetarium will track the Rosetta Space Probe's progress as it makes its final approach to Comet 67P on Wednesday.
The European Space Agency launched the Rosetta in 2004. After a ten-year trip, it reached orbit around the comet in August. Rosetta's lander is scheduled to detach early Wednesday and then begin a seven-hour descent.
The lander's designed to collect and analyze material from the comet. One goal is to better understand how comets change as they pass into the inner Solar System.
The museum will offer advanced video to give visitors visual representations of the landing as it unfolds. It'll also offer workshops exploring how comets are formed.
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