Last month, a 30-foot wide asteroid passed about four times closer to Earth than the moon. But in February, another small asteroid exploded over Russia and 1500 people were injured by flying debris. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration considers these wake-up calls and has surprised Congress and the space community by proposing what's called the "Asteroid Redirect Mission for next year's budget. Joel Achenbach, who covers science and politics for the Washington Post, has more on the plan — and the politics.
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