What's happening?

This morning, at 6:21, a rocket blasted into space.

The Falcon 9 was not on the way to the Moon or Mars. It was not even heading for the International Space StationA joint project between the US, Russia, Japan, Canada and the European Space Agency.. Its mission was brand new. It had to smash into an asteroidA small body in space, made of metal and rock material. Asteroids usually orbit the sun, but if knocked off course they can be drawn into Earth's gravity and fall towards it. .

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Asteroids are rocks that orbitProxima b's orbit lasts 11.2 Earth days. planets in space. Usually, they are safe. But if a big one lands on Earth it can be very dangerous.

Experts think that it was an asteroid that caused the dinosaurs to die out.

Most rocks from space never reach us on the ground. They break up in the atmosphere before they can harm us.

But scientists think that a very big asteroid could wipe out all life on Earth.

So, NASA has built a spacecraft that is heading into space to protect us. The spacecraft is called Dart. It is 160m long - half the height of the Eiffel Tower.

Dart will fly towards asteroids and push them so that their orbits change. This will stop them ever coming near Earth.

NASA says it is good to make sure we are safe. But some say it is not necessary and could be dangerous.

Some say

Yes! If an asteroid hit Earth, it could destroy everything. The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs blocked out the sun and all plants died. We cannot risk this!

Others think

No. We have meddled with our own planet and caused a climate crisis. It is very unlikely that an asteroid will hit us. We should learn from our mistakes!