Smashing success: NASA asteroid strike results in big nudge, calls DART mission a save-the-world test

A spacecraft that plowed into a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles away succeeded in shifting its orbit, NASA said Tuesday in announcing the results of its save-the-world test. The Dart spacecraft carved a crater into the asteroid Dimorphos on Sept 26, hurling debris out into space and creating a cometlike trail of dust and rubble stretching several thousand miles. Scientists had hoped to shave off 10 minutes but NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the impact altered the asteroid's orbit by about 32 minutes. Launched last year, the vending machine-size Dart — short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test — was destroyed when it slammed into the asteroid 7 million miles away at 14,000 mph.