Asteroid Threat Collides With Budget Realities in Congress

In the wake of last month's meteor strike in Russia and a close asteroid flyby on the same day, members of Congress asked NASA, White House and Air Force officials what they're doing to combat the threat of near-Earth asteroids during a hearing today on Capitol Hill.

By and large, the experts stressed that the two space rock events were a coincidence and that the chance of a catastrophic asteroid impact to Earth any time soon is remote. On Feb. 15, a surprise meteor exploded in the sky over Russia's Ural Mountains, just hours before the 150-foot-wide (40 meters) asteroid 2012 DA14 flew close by Earth in a pass that had been predicted beforehand by scientists.