Nasa launches test mission of asteroid-deflecting spacecraft

A spacecraft that must ultimately crash to succeed was launched late on Tuesday from California on a Nasa mission to demonstrate the world's first planetary defence system, designed to deflect an asteroid from a potential doomsday collision with Earth.

The DART spacecraft soared into the night sky at 10.21pm Pacific time on Tuesday from Vandenberg US Space Force Base, about 241km northwest of Los Angeles, carried aboard a SpaceX-owned Falcon 9 rocket.

The launch was shown live on...