NASA’s DART mission smashes into asteroid

Yahoo Finance Live anchors discuss the successful NASA DART mission that redirected an asteroid.

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: Well, it is time now for a quick detour. This time, our detour takes us far out into space. This is my favorite story of the day. A smashing success at NASA, with the space agency livestreaming the moment their DART spacecraft slammed into the asteroid Dimorphus. Now, the collision entirely on purpose and planned since the spacecraft was launched in November last year. It's part of an experiment to see if it's feasible to change the trajectory of an asteroid if one threatens Earth in the future. NASA, meanwhile, taking a note from Aerosmith-- don't want to miss a thing. Had to put the reference in there, right?

INES FERRE: Yeah.

AKIKO FUJITA: They are watching the asteroid's trajectory for changes that will prove whether the experiment worked. Ines, I watched this live yesterday. What an exciting moment. I mean, worth noting, again, as we said in the reader there, this was intentional. This was not headed towards Earth. But it's the first time they've been able to divert the path of an asteroid at a time we've heard so much about potential asteroids maybe in the future headed towards our way. This is comforting.

INES FERRE: Yeah, this is sci-fi material right here. I mean, you couldn't get more sci-fi than this, but definitely a great success. And knowing that if there is an asteroid heading towards Earth, NASA can take care of it.

AKIKO FUJITA: I love the high fives all around. A lot of excitement yesterday.