Bunuel wrote:
Launched in March 2004, Rosetta, a robotic space probe, performed two successful asteroid flyby missions before going into hibernation; in January 2014, it was taken out of its 31-month long hibernation mode to make it approach comet 67P on which it landed in August 2014 for a detailed study.
A. performed two successful asteroid flyby missions before going into hibernation; in January 2014, it was taken out of its 31-month long hibernation mode to make it approach comet 67P on which it landed
B. performed two successful asteroid flyby missions before going into hibernation; it had been taken out of its 31-month long hibernation mode to make it approach, in January 2014, comet 67P on which it landed
C. has performed two successful asteroid flyby missions before it went into hibernation in January 2014; it was taken out of its 31-month long hibernation mode to make it approach comet 67P on which it landed
D. had performed two successful asteroid flyby missions before going into hibernation; in January 2014, it was taken out of its 31-month long hibernation mode to make it approach comet 67P, which landed
E. had performed two successful asteroid flyby missions before going into hibernation; in January 2014, it was taken out of its 31-month long hibernation mode to make it approach comet 67P, which has landed
A. Launched in March 2004, Rosetta, a robotic space probe,
performed two successful asteroid flyby missions before going into hibernation; in January 2014, it was taken out of its 31-month long hibernation mode to make it approach comet 67P on which it landed in August 2014 for a detailed study.
Correct! The sentence correctly specifies that -
1.
Launched in March 2004, Rosetta,
a robotic space probe, performed two successful asteroid flyby missions before going into hibernation
2.
In January 2014, it was taken out of its 31-month long hibernation mode
to make it approach comet 67P 3.
on which it landed in August 2014 for a detailed study
B. Launched in March 2004, Rosetta, a robotic space probe,
performed two successful asteroid flyby missions before going into hibernation; it had been taken out of its 31-month long hibernation mode to make it approach, in January 2014, comet 67P on which it landed in August 2014 for a detailed study.
"Had been" is unnecessarily used as there are no two actions in the past whose sequence cannot be determined based on the context of the sentence
C. Launched in March 2004, Rosetta, a robotic space probe,
has performed two successful asteroid flyby missions before it went into hibernation in January 2014; it was taken out of its 31-month long hibernation mode to make it approach comet 67P on which it landed in August 2014 for a detailed study.
Changes the meaning. It now says that Rosetta went into hibernation in January 2014. It might have been correct, but the later part of the sentence suggests that it was taken out of its "31-month long hibernation" in "August 2014". If it went into hibernation in January 2014, how could its 31-month long hibernation end in August 2014?
D. Launched in March 2004, Rosetta, a robotic space probe,
had performed two successful asteroid flyby missions before going into hibernation; in January 2014, it was taken out of its 31-month long hibernation mode to make it approach comet 67P, which landed in August 2014 for a detailed study.
Had is not required here because the context of the question suggests that Rosetta was firstly launched and then performed two successful flyby missions. It is logically not possible (even for robots!) to complete some missions even before launching
E. Launched in March 2004, Rosetta, a robotic space probe,
had performed two successful asteroid flyby missions before going into hibernation; in January 2014, it was taken out of its 31-month long hibernation mode to make it approach comet 67P, which has landed in August 2014 for a detailed study.
Same as D.
Also, ", which has landed" incorrectly modifies "comet 67P"