NASA Ready for Practice , Mission to Redirect Potentially , Deadly Asteroids.br 'The Independent' reports that NASA br plans to slam a high-speed spacecraft into br a massive asteroid in an attempt to redirect it.br The space agency's experimental br mission will take place on br September 26 and will be aired live.br The Double Asteroid Redirection br Test mission, or DART, was br launched in November of 2021.br It is designed to make contactbr with the asteroid Dimorphos in br an attempt to alter its orbit.br 'The Independent' reports br that Dimorphos does not br pose a threat to Earth.br The mission is meant to provide scientists with data br needed to construct a similar mission to redirectbr a hypothetical asteroid that actually threatens Earth.br The mission is a crucial step in NASA's planetary br defense initiative which looks to identify and br mitigate threats posed by asteroids to life on Earth.br DART is headed for a high-speed br collision with Dimorphos around br 6.8 million miles from Earth. .br The car-sized spacecraft will impact br the asteroid at around 4 miles per br second, or 14,400 miles per hour.br In 2027, the European Space Agency's HERA br mission will arrive at Dimorphos to assess br the impact of DART on the asteroid's orbit.br In 2005, the U.S. Congress passed a law requiring NASA to catalog at least 90 of all asteroids large enough to pose a significant threat to Earth.