Hera spacecraft to probe asteroid deflected by defense test

Europe's Hera probe is tentatively scheduled to launch Monday on a mission to inspect the damage a NASA spacecraft made when it smashed into an asteroid during the first test of Earth's planetary defenses.

In a scene that sounds straight out of science fiction, the spacecraft deliberately crashed into the pyramid-sized asteroid Dimorphos in 2022, roughly 11 million kilometers (6.8 million miles) from Earth.

The fridge-sized impactor used in the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)...