Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission

On Tuesday, November 23 at 10:21 p.m. PST, Falcon 9 launched NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission to an interplanetary transfer orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. DART is humanity’s first planetary defense test mission to see if intentionally crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is an effective way to change its course, should an Earth-threatening asteroid be discovered in the future. This was SpaceX’s first inter-planetary mission.

This was the third flight for this Falcon 9’s first stage booster, which previously supported launch of Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich and a Starlink mission.

[MotoREEngr]

"humanity's first planetary defense"

Fiction to reality there. 😮😎

[FrankBenlin]

Not only can SpaceX send anything anywhere, they make it look so easy. Good job.

[BigSlim]

This should qualify for the record of Longest sniper shot in history.

[ryanaiden]

Hearing “planetary defense” in a non fiction context blows my mind…
I am so happy rn

[mikegb]

SpaceX is amazing for its rockets, but it's also amazing for its webcasts (hosts, graphics, and music) and letting YouTubers watch and report on Starship development at Boca Chica, TX.

[ebswift]

Congrats SpaceX, wishing the DART team a successful mission, can't wait to see final asteroid collision.

[davidmontgomery]

I've been watching these launches since the Apollo missions of the 60s. These things never get old, only better camera angles.

[nenekbot]

I'm proud of humanity thanks to such amazing people. You're one of those who's standing in our vanguard.
Applause from Russia

[JoPeter]

Seeing earth from that distance makes you realize how fragile we are and yet how lucky we are to be alive!
Great teamwork and an astonishing achievement!

[clevergirl]

Here after the historic DART impact into Dimorphos!!! Congrats to NASA and APL, and thank you SpaceX for helping them get there!

[galnetdor]

What I loved, and none of the commenters mentioned was since they were going to a much higher altitude than usual the way the earth looked so much smaller behind the second stage than we are used to. You really get a sense of how far they they were going. Especially noticing the slow rotation of the second stage.

[ozankeskin]

Successfull impact... Congratulations SpaceX and Nasa

[JontyLevine]

Well done NASA and SpaceX. You showed that asteroid who's boss!

[endcronycapitalism]

I wish they would have continued showing second stage as earth was getting smaller and smaller! That was awesome to watch!

[richardseton]

Thank you Spacex, John and Jesse, exceptional professional performance!

[jd]

Experiencing this in person a few miles away from base is amazing! This is history in the making!

[rogermcd]

They make it look so easy, in reality the technology is " out of this world "
Nasa/SpaceX partnership is incredible. Thank you all for sharing this with us

[richard]

Good to see John’s cheerful person on this launch - the others are good and just as knowledgeable in their own way - but a launch without John does not seem quite the same 👍😀👍😀

[Poberaganser]

The DART is going to hit "the bull". Good work, SpaceX and NASA.

[gcaz]

So excited we’re really lucky to be living in the space age, everything is happening so fast it’s unreal !!