Nasa successfully crashes spacecraft into an asteroid in a direct hit
The collision was intentional and designed to test whether space rocks that might threaten Earth could be nudged safely out of the way.
Dart's camera returned an image per second, right up to the moment of impact with the target - a 160m-wide object calledDimorphous.
What had been a steady image stream cut out as the probe was obliterated.
Controllers based at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU-APL) erupted with joy as Dimorphos filled the field of view on Dart's camera before going blank. Initial calculations suggest the impact was a mere 17m off the exact centre of Dimorphous.
It will be weeks before scientists on the Nasa-led mission know whether their experiment has worked. Still, Dr Lori Glaze, the director of planetary science at the space agency, was convinced something remarkable had been achieved.
"We're embarking on a new era of humankind, an era in which we potentially can protect ourselves from something like a dangerous hazardous asteroid impact. What an amazing thing; we've never had that capability before," she told reporters.
And Dr Elena Adams, a JHU-APL mission systems engineer, said "earthlings should sleep better" knowing they had a planetary defence solution.
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