Former Devizes Grammar School boy Rod Emery, who led the team that created the Rosetta spacecraft, has reunited with his colleagues as the mission grabs world headlines.

Mr Emery, 67, retired 18 months ago, but joined his former team as the Rosetta became the first mission to drop a lander onto a comet.

Among those celebrating was Phil McGoldrick from Calne who was the team’s engineering manager. The former John Bentley School pupil and Mr Emery worked together for 20 years.

Mr Emery, who lives in Hertfordshire, said: “A huge cheer went up in the room when Philae landed.”

Rosetta was launched in 2004 and has travelled four billion miles through space to rendezvous with a comet (67P) that measures just 2.2 miles x 2.5 miles and is hurtling through space at a speed of 34,000 miles per hour.

Mr Emery said: “Rosetta became the first mission to drop a lander onto a comet. It is understood that the lander has already delivered 80 per cent of the scientific data that it was designed to provide but the majority of the data has been and will be provided by the Rosetta spacecraft, which will stay with the comet until the end of 2015 gathering data as the comet gets closer to the sun.

“Scientists believe the data could reveal secrets about the early universe and how the Earth was formed.”

Mr Emery went to All Cannings School before joining the old Devizes Grammar School.

But unlike some young children he had not always been fascinated in space and spent the early part of his career working on Concorde.

He started work on the Rosetta spacecraft in 1998 but after its launch in 2004 moved on to a number of other projects.

He said: “We always kept an eye on it because it was so important but these things take a long time to happen. It was exciting when it finally came to fruition.”

He has a brother and sister living in the Devizes area and he and his partner, Karen, plan to retire to Wiltshire.

He hopes the mission will inspire young people to think of engineering as a career.