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Today’s the day that stuff of fiction and movies could become a real thing: NASA is set to purposely crash a spacecraft into an asteroid. The so-called "Double Asteroid Redirection Test" or "DART" will test whether it's possible to deflect a space rock on a collision course with Earth.
The over 500-foot asteroid known as Dimorphos poses no threat to the planet, but scientists are eager to see if their probe will alter its nearly 12-hour orbit around larger asteroid Didymos.
The DART spacecraft is scheduled to smash into the space rock at a staggering 15,000 miles per hour at 7:14pm, Eastern time. But you won’t see anything up in the sky – as this will be happening about 6.5-million miles away from earth. The collision will air live on NASA TV.
Source: NBC News