Asteroid capture

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 space agency attempted the test two weeks ago to see if in the future a killer rock could be nudged out of Earth's way.

An asteroid known as Bennu will pass within half the distance of the Earth to the Moon in the year 2135 but the probability of an impact with our planet in the coming centuries is very slight, scientists said on Aug. 11.

class='cf'>

NASA has set the date for a trip to an asteroid that could be worth “quadrillions” of dollars.

The Discovery Mission will launch in summer 2022, with a planned arrival at the main asteroid belt where the space rock is located expected in 2026 — four years earlier than the agency’s initial plans.