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Article  Asteroid that nearly blew Bush's moon mission  February
27, 2004  Printer friendly version Print this article Email to a
friend Email to a friend  The good news is we're going back to
the moon. The bad news is an asteroid is about to hit the Earth.
The US President, George Bush, came within hours of delivering
such a speech on January 14, it has been revealed.  As he was
preparing to announce a renewal of the US moon landings program,
astronomers were monitoring an asteroid they believed could
strike the northern hemisphere within 24 hours.  During the
crisis the night before Mr Bush's speech at NASA headquarters
the scientists believed there was a one-in-four chance of a
strike.  Had it not been for a break in the clouds that allowed
an amateur astronomer to give the all-clear, they were on the
verge of calling the White House.  Observers at first believed
that the asteroid was about 30 metres across. At that size it
would have exploded well