(Update: Launched) NASA, SpaceX complete key milestone for DART mission to bump an asteroid

DART is scheduled to launch atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg on November 23 at 10:21 p.m. PST (Nov. 24 at 1:21 a.m. EST).

Last week, NASA completed the Flight Readiness Review (FRR) for its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission to bump an asteroid and the spacecraft is now encapsulated in the SpaceX payload fairings at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, marking a significant milestone in its launch process.

"The encapsulation event is a significant milestone in DART's launch process as it marks the last direct access to the spacecraft and completion of all major testing milestones prior to launch. The team has worked around the clock to ensure they wouldn't miss a thing," said Joan Misner, NASA's Launch Service Program integration engineer.

Aimed at updating the team on the status of the mission, closing out actions from previous readiness reviews, and certifying the readiness to proceed with initiation of final launch preparation activities, the FRR was completed by NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP), SpaceX, and DART launch managers.

In the next step, SpaceX technicians installed the two halves of the fairing around the spacecraft over the course of two days. The payload fairing will serve as a barrier to the harsh environment of the atmosphere during the spacecraft's launch.

DART is scheduled to launch atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg on November 23 at 10:21 p.m. PST (Nov. 24 at 1:21 a.m. EST).

🚀 @NASA & @SpaceX are completing key milestones for the #DARTmission!Last week, the DART spacecraft was encapsulated inside the payload fairings that will protect it during launch atop a #Falcon9 and teams completed a successful Flight Readiness Review: https://t.co/16FohmMvUw pic.twitter.com/XYW93mQOTj

— NASA's Launch Services Program (@NASA_LSP) November 22, 2021

DART will be the first mission to test asteroid deflection technologies for preventing a hazardous asteroid from impacting Earth. While the target asteroid is not a threat to Earth, the mission will prove that a spacecraft can autonomously navigate to a target asteroid and kinetically impact it.

According to NASA, DART will encounter a binary near-Earth asteroid called Didymos in late September 2022. The spacecraft will impact the orbiting moonlet, named Dimorphos, to change its orbital period around Didymos.

Update

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA's DART spacecraft has launched from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, starting a nearly one-year journey to crash into a distant asteroid as a test. The spacecraft blasted off at 10:21 p.m. PST on November 23 (1:21 a.m. Nov. 24).