or live chat at calhope.org today. nasa is trying to manipulate asteroids away from earth. they plan to slam a spacecraft into an asteroid to see if it can change the rock s course. the spacecraft for this mission took off tuesday, but the collision will not happen until late september or early october of next year. andy ripken is part of the planetary astronomer at johns hopkins. andy, thanks for being here. this is mind blowing at so many levels.