--- title: "Bruce Willis Apparently Refused to Watch NASA Launch Asteroid-Smashing Rocket" description: "Bruce Willis has turned down NASA's invite to watch the launch of the DART mission that bears a striking resemblance to \"Armageddon.\"" date: "2021-11-23" modified: "2021-11-23" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/bruce-willis-nasa-asteroid" categories: - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "bruce willis" - "dart" - "NASA" - "the digest" --- # Bruce Willis Apparently Refused to Watch NASA Launch Asteroid-Smashing Rocket ![Bruce Willis has turned down NASA's invite to watch the launch of the DART mission that bears a striking resemblance to "Armageddon."]() *\Image: NASA/Futurism\* ## Rough Necks NASA invited movie star Bruce Willis to the launch of a spacecraft that's gonna smash into an asteroid to see if we could deflect a killer space rock — that's the plot to Willis's 1998 "Armageddon," for those keeping score — but he apparently had better things to do. As [*The Washington Post*'s Christian Davenport tweeted](), NASA Administrator Bill Nelson admitted that Willis isn't attending the launch of the much-anticipated Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, even though the agency invited him explicitly due to his role in the Michael Bay blockbuster. "We didn't want to miss that connection," Nelson said in what is hopefully a nod to the [classic Aerosmith love song]() that served as the film's theme song. ## Miss a Thing For those who were not blessed enough to have watched the film, which featured Aerosmith's Steven Tyler crooning "I Don't Want To Miss a Thing" during a love scene starring his real-life daughter Liv Tyler, the plot revolves around a scenario similar to the real-world near-disaster at the heart of the DART mission: fears of a [Texas-sized]() asteroid, headed straight for Earth. In the movie, NASA hires a bunch of oil riggers who are badass enough to go into space and blow it to smithereens. So when [reports emerged in 2017]() that NASA was planning a mission that seemed remarkably like the one in "Armageddon," it felt very much like life was imitating art. The DART team got so tired of the "Armageddon" comparisons, in fact, that one of them issued a statement dispelling the mythology, noting that the test is actually of "kinetic impactor" technology, which is nerdspeak for the small spaceship that NASA is going to fly into the space rock to move it off course. "The idea of a kinetic impactor is definitely not like \[the movie\] ‘Armageddon,’ where you go up at the last hour and you know, save the Earth,” Nancy Chabot, Johns Hopkins planetary scientist and DART team member, [said in 2019](). “This is something that you would do five, 10, 15, 20 years in advance — gently nudge the asteroid so it just sails merrily on its way and doesn’t impact the Earth." But NASA apparently didn't get that memo when deciding to invite Willis — who may or [may not]()[ hate the film]() — to the launch tonight. **More on Armageddons:** [*Scientists Say “Ecological Armageddon” is Imminent Due to Massive Insect Deaths*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()