NASA makes deep impact on Baltimore brothers with an invitation to asteroid crash

In a swift swoop, former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin picked up young Aden, who gazed at the various patches on the man’s collared blue jumpsuit. Noah, Aden’s older brother, watched the encounter as dad and mom snapped a picture. The family joined the elite astronaut, scientists, the European and Italian space agencies and a mob of media for an evening in Laurel to watch a NASA spacecraft collide with a 525-foot asteroid. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, known as DART, is one of the first missions that attempted to change the path of an asteroid by slamming into it at 14,000 miles per hour. Scientists will use results to develop future protections against asteroids that are potentially harmful to Earth.