SpaceX Launches NASA Dart Mission That Will Crash Into An Asteroid

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk-led SpaceX and U.S. space agency NASA on Wednesday launched the Falcon 9 rocket along the California central coast for a first planetary defense test to redirect an asteroid.

What Happened: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was launched at the scheduled time of 10:21 p.m. PT Tuesday; both SpaceX and NASA confirmed the deployement nearly an hour later.

The U.S. space agency said the spacecraft would soon begin to orient itself towards the Sun. 

The DART spacecraft will target an asteroid known as Didymos, which is orbiting a larger asteroid called Dimorphos. 

Light Show: Souther California residents were treated with an aerial lightshow following the liftoff. Jack Beyer, an aerospace and launch photographer, shared a long-exposure photograph of the Falcon 9 launch.

The space company and the agency shared the liftoff, the separation clips and the return of the Falcon 9’s first stage booster on the "Of Course I Still Love You" droneship.

Why It Matters: The experimental test attempts to find out if this is an effective way to change an asteroid’s course in the future to avoid a collision with Earth, SpaceX said in a tweet. 

The DART spacecraft will crash into Didymos in September 2022 at a speed of about 14,700 miles per hour to change its orbit.

The Didymos system poses no actual impact threat to Earth.

Photo: Courtesy of NASA