NASA's DART spacecraft changed a binary asteroid's orbit around the sun, in a first for a human-made object

NASA's DART spacecraft successfully crashed into asteroid moonlet Dimorphos in 2022, not only shortening its 33-minute orbit around parent asteroid Didymos but also shifting the entire binary system's path around the sun by 1.7 inches per hour. This marks the first time humans have measurably altered a celestial body's solar orbit, demonstrating a promising planetary defense method against potentially hazardous asteroids.