(Updated) NASA spacecraft will intentionally collide with an asteroid; watch live

NASA's first-ever planetary defense test mission, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), is scheduled for Monday, September 26. This test will show a spacecraft can autonomously navigate to a target asteroid and intentionally crash into it to change the asteroid's motion.

The target asteroid is a non-hazardous binary, near-Earth binary asteroid system Didymos, which is composed of the larger asteroid Didymos and its moonlet asteroid Dimorphos.

At 7:14 pm EDT, NASA's DART will intentionally execute a kinetic impact into Dimorphos to slightly change its motion in space. The mission will prove this is a viable technique to deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth if one is ever discovered.

Live coverage of DART's impact with the asteroid Dimorphos will air on NASA TV and the agency's website at 6 pm ET. You also can watch the planetary defense test live on agency social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Just 1⃣ more day! DART will become the first-ever space mission to demonstrate #asteroid deflection by kinetic impactor. Are you ready to watch history in the making? 💥🛰️Watch @NASA's #DARTMission LIVE tomorrow at 6pm ET. ▶️➡️ https://t.co/CRmd7X4Ku1@NASASolarSystem @JHUAPL pic.twitter.com/QMQ3YP98ym

— NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) September 25, 2022

Update 

NASA's DART spacecraft successfully impacted its asteroid target on Monday, at 7:14 p.m. EDT. The investigation team will now observe the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos using ground-based telescopes to confirm that the impact altered the asteroid's orbit around Didymos, the agency said.

The results will help validate and improve scientific computer models critical to predicting the effectiveness of this technique as a reliable method for asteroid deflection.

We have impact 🛰️💥@NASA's #DARTMission – the world's first #planetarydefense test mission – successfully impacted its asteroid target. Mission control at @JHUAPL announced the impact at 7:14 p.m. EDT. pic.twitter.com/ZHodaaCXoc

— NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) September 27, 2022