For most people, going into outer space would be enough of a claim to fame — but the way astronaut Rusty Schweickart sees it, saving the world from killer asteroids is far more significant.

“Apollo and Skylab were great experiences for me personally, but my NEO [near-Earth object] work may really save many, many lives … ultimately,” the 77-year-old Schweickart, who flew on Apollo 9 in 1969 and served as backup Skylab commander, said during a NEOShield Tweetup this month.

Schweickart and four other astronauts on Friday urged the international community to put two missions high up on the agenda for space spending: a deep-space infrared telescope to detect near-Earth asteroids, and an asteroid-deflecting probe that could set the stage for a planetary defense system.

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