NASA Crashes Spacecraft into Asteroid in Attempt to Knock It off Course | PBS NewsHour

NASA has attempted an experiment to answer a question that’s straight out of science fiction. What could we do if a large object was hurtling through space on a collision course with Earth? NASA discovered the answer to that question when it launched the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, almost a year ago. NASA deliberately smashed DART, which cost $325 million, into the asteroid Dimorphos at 7:14 p.m. ET on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022.

Watch the video above to learn more, and then answer the discussion questions in the upper-right corner of this page.

This lesson was originally posted here on PBS NewsHour Classroom on September 27, 2022. Check out more resources at NewsHour Classroom.