The European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta probe is inching ever closer to the comet, dubbed 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, it plans on attaching itself to.

According to CNN, the satellite took 10 years to get into the general vicinity of the comet and is now completing the last of its breaking maneuvers before it attempts the complicated landing. Such an attempt has never been made and would give scientists a never-before-seen look at the life of a comet.

Rosetta mission managers say the satellite will soon be within 75 miles of its target comet and the historic landing attempt is on track to take place in Nov. In its early stages, Rosetta relied on the gravitation forces of the Earth and Mars to slingshot itself toward the comet. During its long journey, mission managers had to place the probe in hibernation mode to preserve its energy.

"It really is such a step forward to anything that has come before," Matt Taylor, a Rosetta project scientist, told CNN. "We'll be able to make a comparison to now, when its relatively inert, to when it's highly active... making this measurement over a year when we're riding alongside at walking pace and observing how a comet works and interacts with the sun.

"We are there for over a year to see this compete development to the extent that you may even be able to measure the decrease in the volume of the nucleus... see how much material has left the comet."

The landing is sure to provide the mission managers with plenty of tense moments, as it is just 3.5km by 4km with a thin and unpredictable gravitational field, the Wall Street Journal reported. Once Rosetta is in landing position, it will fire an anchor into the odd-shaped lump of dust and ice to keep from floating back away from it.

The comet will eventually fly by Earth and swing around the sun while several shards will fly off in the process and Rosetta will have the most up-close-and-personal view scientists could ask for.

"Tens to hundreds of tons of material will fly off," Taylor told the Journal. "We'll have a ringside view to see this."

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