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We're embarking on a new era of humankind.

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Didymos and Dimorphos make a great target.

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We needed an asteroid with a moon that you can see

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from ground-based telescopes around the world.

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We're doing this mission to prove that we can deflect an asteroid.

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5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

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And liftoff of the Falcon 9 and DART on NASA's first planetary defense test

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to intentionally crash into an asteroid.

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Even if we do everything right — our sensors work well,

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our spacecraft is doing well — even then, we might still miss.

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4, 3, 2, 1.

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[Cheering and Applause]

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For the first time ever,

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humanity has changed the orbit

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of a planetary object.

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NASA confirms

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that DART successfully changed

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the targeted asteroid’s trajectory.

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Using the ground-based telescopes around the world to watch the system

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and see how it's affected by this impact event.

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This is a watershed moment for planetary defense