Smiles and celebrations at the European Space Agency.<br /> <br />After a seven hour descent from the spacecraft Rosetta, the agency's Philae space probe had landed successfully on a comet.<br /> <br />The landing marks a major triumph in a mission that took 10 years and traveled 6.4 billion km to arrive at the comet.<br /> <br />The probe, seen here from Rosetta's narrow-angle camera, after separation, will now begin collecting samples from the surface of the comet, which scientists hope, will shed light on the solar system...and the origins of life.<br /> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (English) ESA DIRECTOR THOMAS REITER SAYING:<br /> <br />"It's a lot of new information about the origins of our solar system, of our own planet, the water which is on our planet -- does it come from such comets? Could it be that the origin of life has not evolved here on earth but was brought to earth via such comets? And I think that indeed justifies all this effort."<br /> <br />And that effort is far from over. The probe may be the first ever to
