Asteroid danger: Top NASA chief issues grave warning of deadly collision

Didymos A is 2,624ft (0.4miles) across but poses no threat to Earth.

This width means it is wider than the Burj Khalifa is tall.

Opponents criticised Mr Bridenstine’s appointment as the first elected official to become NASA administrator as he was a climate change denier.

However, at a town hall at the agency’s headquarters, Mr Bridenstine said his views had changed: “I fully believe and know that the climate is changing. I also know that we humans beings are contributing to it in a major way. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. We’re putting it into the atmosphere in volumes that we haven’t seen, and that greenhouse gas is warming the planet. That is absolutely happening, and we are responsible for it.”