NASA Invokes Bruce Willis, ‘Armageddon’ In Launch Of “First Full-Scale Planetary Defense Test” Rocket Over L.A. Tonight - Deadline

Flash forward to this week, as NASA launches its first test mission to redirect a non-threatening asteroid, the department’s administrator Bill Nelson said the agency invited Willis to the launch, but Nelson said the star won’t be there.

Given Willis’ memorable turn in Armageddon, however, Nelson said “we didn’t want to miss that connection.” If Willis is in Southern California tonight, he may catch the launch anyway.

Los Angeles-area residents could get an impressive light show in the night sky tonight when Elon Musk’s SpaceX attempts to launch the “planetary-defense mission” from the recently-renamed Vandenberg Space Force Base near Lompoc, north of Santa Barbara.

Depending on visibility, night-time rocket launches from Vandenberg can create dazzling spectacles seen across much of Southern California.

The event is the literal launch of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, mission, “the world’s first full-scale planetary defense test, demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection technology.” It’s been years in the making.

The spacecraft loaded onto the Musk-made rocket is, according to NASA, “designed to impact an asteroid as a test of technology to see if it can change the motion of an asteroid in space.