NASA’s DART Spacecraft Successfully Hits Asteroid in Historic Test of Planetary Defense

A television at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, captures the final images from the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) just before it smashes into the asteroid Dimorphos, on Sept. 26, 2022. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

NASA’s asteroid-deflecting DART spacecraft successfully struck a football stadium-sized asteroid in a historic test of the world’s first planetary defense system, designed to prevent a cosmic doomsday collision with Earth.

“IMPACT SUCCESS!” NASA declared on Twitter after the spacecraft, flying at 14,000 miles per hour, struck “Dimorphos” on Monday at 7:14 p.m. ET.