Speaking of rocks from outer space… Asteroid 2012 DA14, moving at five miles per second, will pass by planet Earth today. It is the closest an asteroid has ever come to our planet, that we know of, without impacting. In fact, it will come so close that it will pass 5,000 miles BENEATH Earth's ring of GPS satellites. A close approach like this happens only about once every 40 years. At more than half the size of a football field, 2012 DA14 would take out an entire major metropolitan city it if hit (see my previous post about what happens when meteor fragments fall through the atmosphere). But don't worry, 2012 DA14 is not going to hit. But the next one might. Scientists say there are about 500,000 near-Earth asteroids the size of 2012 DA14 in our solar system. Of those, less than one percent have been discovered. Might I suggest that a space program is, in fact, important, America.

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