NASA crashes spacecraft into asteroid in world’s first planetary defense test

NASA crashes a spacecraft into an asteroid - on purpose. (NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben/NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben)

By Jessica Goodman, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

LAUREL, Md. — NASA crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in the world’s first planetary defense test Monday evening.

According to The Associated Press, the NASA spacecraft slammed into an asteroid that was harmless to see if it is possible to get killer space rocks out of the way of Earth.

The New York Times reported that DART or NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft, slammed into a small asteroid at more than 14,000 miles per hour. This asteroid had no threat to Earth but the mission was a test on technology to see how it could protect the planet in the future.