IT WORKED!

NASA’s Asteroid Crash Test Is a Big Success

The mission’s success marks the first time humanity has shifted the path of a celestial object.

NASA’s DART Mission, a seemingly crazy quest to alter an asteroid’s trajectory by crashing a spacecraft into it, was a wild success, the agency announced Tuesday. It marks the first time humanity has changed the direction of a celestial object. Dimorphos, a harmless asteroid millions of miles away, was used as a test to see if NASA was capable of saving the planet from future intergalactic threats. The space agency was hoping to alter the path of Dimorphos, which typically rotates around its parent asteroid in 11 hours and 55 minutes, by 73 seconds or more. On Tuesday, NASA announced that it had done 25-times that, changing the orbit by roughly 32 minutes. “This mission shows that NASA is trying to be ready for whatever the universe throws at us,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “NASA has proven we are serious as a defender of the planet. This is a watershed moment for planetary defense and all of humanity, demonstrating commitment from NASA's exceptional team and partners from around the world.”