NASA spacecraft closes in on asteroid for head-on collision

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) — A NASA spacecraft closed in on an asteroid at blistering speed Monday in an unprecedented dress rehearsal for the day a killer rock menaces Earth.

The galactic grand slam was set to occur at a harmless asteroid 7 million miles (9.6 million kilometers) away, with the spacecraft named Dart plowing into the rock at 14,000 mph (22,500 kph). Scientists expected the impact to carve out a crater, hurl streams of rocks and dirt into space and, most importantly, alter the asteroid’s orbit.

Telescopes around the world and in space were poised to capture the spectacle. Though the impact should be immediately obvious — with Dart’s radio signal abruptly ceasing — it will be days or even weeks to determine how much the asteroid’s path was changed.

The $325 million mission is the first attempt to shift the position of an asteroid or any other natural object in space.

“No, this is not a movie plot,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson tweeted earlier in the day. ”We’ve all seen it on movies like ‘Armageddon,’ but the real-life stakes are high,” he said in a prerecorded video.