Rosetta blast-off

Europe's Rosetta space mission, which aims to track and land on a comet, has launched successfully.

After a series of set backs and delays, the rocket finally left its launch pad at the French Guiana take-off site on Monday morning.

"So far the launch has been successful," said a spokesman for the European Space Agency. "We have our fingers crossed."

Rosetta is planned to reach comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 when its lander will study the 4km wide mountain of ice, dust and rock.

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