European Space Agency (ESA) scientists accomplished the world's first controlled spacecraft landing on a comet Wednesday, reports CNN.

A mechanical space device called the Philae probe landed on its target, a comet named 67P, 310 million miles from Earth.

But there was a glitch.

Comet 67P has a weak gravity. The Philae probe is equipped with anchoring harpoons designed to embed in the comet to secure the spacecraft to it. The harpoons failed, the probe bounced twice before floating to rest two hours later in the shadow of a cliff -- 0.6 miles from its intended location, reports Reuters.

The ESA will have to analyze data beamed 300 million miles back to Earth to precisely locate the probe before attempting to use its landing gear to "hop" out of the cliff shadow, scientists said.

"Our ambitious Rosetta mission has secured a place in the history books: not only is it the first to rendezvous with and orbit a comet, but it is now also the first to deliver a lander to a comet's surface," Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA's director general, said in an article on the ESA website.

The mission's objective? Collecting information about the history of our solar system.

"Rosetta is trying to answer the very big questions about the history of our solar system," Matt Taylor, ESA Rosetta project scientist, said in the article. "What were the conditions like at its infancy and how did it evolve? What role did comets play in this evolution? How do comets work?"

Rosetta, with Philae onboard, launched from Earth 10 years ago. The spacecraft traveled 6.4 billion miles before reaching the comet in August.

The Philae lander craft left the orbiting Rosetta around 3:30 a.m. ET Wednesday. It was crucial the orbiter Rosetta be in the precise position to allow Philae, which had no thrusters, to "free fall" onto the comet, which it did seven hours later.

The lander craft is the size of a household clothes washing machine and weighs around 220 pounds. The comet is 2.5 miles in diameter.

The comet is currently 310 million miles from Earth.

You view pictures of the mission and the comet, and get live updates, on the ESA Rosetta blog.