Apollo astronaut champions Hera for planetary defence (esa.int)

• Schweickart champions multi-spacecraft planetary defense strategies.
• Hera serves as the diagnostic follow-up to impact missions.
• Focus on orbital mechanics and kinetic impact precision.

"Apollo veteran Rusty Schweickart advocates for the ESA's Hera mission as a critical component of planetary defense infrastructure. Schweickart emphasizes the strategic value of redundancy, arguing that deploying two spacecraft—one for impact and one for close-range observation—significantly enhances data accuracy in asteroid deflection testing."