Description
Added on the 03/12/2014 19:41:10 - Copyright : Reuters EN
NASA Chief Charles Bolden says the launch of Orion, a U.S. spaceship designed to fly astronauts beyond Earth's orbit, is a 'big deal.' Jennifer Davis reports.
NASA says it has succeeded in deflecting an asteroid in a historic test of humanity's ability to stop an incoming cosmic object from devastating life on Earth. The fridge-sized Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impactor deliberately smashed into the moonlet asteroid Dimorphos on September 26, pushing it into a smaller, faster orbit around its big brother Didymos, says NASA chief Bill Nelson in a press conference from Washington. SOUNDBITE
After the first attempt was postponed Thursday, NASA launched its unmanned exploration capsule Orion Friday morning to a test flight around the earth. The mission hopes to fly astronauts to asteroids in 2021 and to Mars in the 2030s.
The Orion spaceship designed to one day fly astronauts to Mars made a near-bullseye splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
The Orion spaceship designed to one day fly astronauts to Mars made a near-bullseye splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).