Philae comet landing: 'People invested entire lives in this' "Generations" of scientists have celebrated the landing of the probe Philae on a comet 300 million miles away, Dr Matt Taylor has told BBC News. The scientist said people had invested their entire lives on the European Space Agency mission - "I can't put words to it - it was beautiful." He said the harpoons had now been deployed and the ice screws had gone in -"we're down there and we're doing science."