🚀 We're on our way to nudge an asteroid! Our DART spacecraft lifted off at 1:21 a.m. EST (6:21 UTC) this morning, beginning its 10-month journey to the small "moonlet" Dimorphos. Late next year, the vending machine-sized ship will smash into Dimorphos at more than 15,000 miles an hour (24,000 kph), altering its orbit very slightly around the larger asteroid Didymos. Dimorphos does not pose a threat to Earth, either before or after DART's impact, but the data we collect from DART's collision will help us design spacecraft to deflect any future asteroids or near-Earth objects that ever threaten our home planet. Designed by JohnsHopkinsAPL, DART lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg_SFB in California. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls #DARTMission #PlanetaryDefense #NASA #Space #SpaceX #Rocket #RocketLaunch #DontWannaMissAThing