( CNN ) -- It 's hard to top the tricky , first-ever landing on a comet , broadcast live on the Internet . That 's what space lovers and other curious types got on Wednesday , when the European Space Agency 's probe Philae touched down on Comet 67P . It was high drama that continued into the afternoon as questions arose about whether the probe , in fact , stuck the landing despite the fact that harpoons designed to anchor it failed to fire . Then the probe 's batteries appeared to conk out . Many in the United States bemoaned the fact that it was a European agency , not an American one , that led the mission ( although NASA was part of a consortium of partners for the mission ) . Actually , NASA has done something very similar . The space agency made an impromptu landing on an asteroid called Eros on February 12 , 2001 . The agency 's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous-Shoemaker ( NEAR-Shoemaker ) , the first mission to orbit an asteroid , was n't designed to land , but when the mission ended , NASA decided to give it a try . It worked . The probe continued to send back data for several days and made its last call back to Earth on Feb. 28 , 2001 . There are dozens of other exciting unmanned missions underway -- and several really cool ones that have wrapped up . Take a look at the gallery above , which highlights 11 fascinating space missions .
The probe has touched down on a comet on 2015 . It 's the first time a probe has occupied a comet . Other interesting space missions also happening .