This one did sneak up on us . . .
Asteroid shock: NASA email reveals agency's surprise at near-hit - 'It slipped through'
AN ASTEROID large enough to devastate a city unexpectedly “slipped through” NASA’s defence net, internal space agency emails have revealed.
The asteroid, dubbed 2019 OK, brushed past our planet on July 25 but the rock was not spotted until it closed-in on Earth. NASA later confirmed the asteroid skimmed the planet from a dangerously close distance of just 40,400 miles – one-fifth of the distance to the Moon. A similar surprise in 2013 resulted in a rogue space rock inuring more than 1,000 people with shards from blown-out windows in Russia. Internal NASA emails obtained by BuzzFeed reveal the US space agency was completely caught off-guard by 2019 OK.