MOSCOW, November 8 (RIA Novosti) - A Moscow court dismissed Tuesday a Russian astrologist's $302-million claim against the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration for shooting a projectile into a comet, but her defense lawyer said they would appeal.
Alexander Molokhov said the court had decided against his client Marina Bai with the defendants in absentia and without giving any valid reasons for turning down the suit.
The astrologist sued NASA for moral damages following the agency's July 4 strike on Comet Tempel 1 with the 400-kg impactor fired from a Deep Impact spacecraft 83 million miles away from Earth. She argued the experiment "encroaches on the system of spiritual and life values, as well as on the natural being of outer space, upsetting the natural balance of forces in the universe."
NASA said the Deep Impact mission would help them study the geological and chemical structure of comets circling the Sun, providing valuable clues as to the nature of the solar system and how it was formed.
Vladimir Fortov, vice president of Russia's Academy of Sciences, claimed the NASA probe's crashing into the comet posed no danger to Earth.
"The impact of the collision on the comet's orbit was just 10 centimeters, with the distance between it and Earth being millions of kilometers," he said.
