On 7 October 2008, astronomers achieved something unprecedented: they spotted an asteroid headed for Earth and calculated exactly where it would hit, 19 hours before impact. Asteroid 2008 TC3 exploded harmlessly over Sudan, but the event marked the first time in history humans had advance warning of an incoming space rock. The meteorite fragments, named Almahata Sitta, revealed rare carbon-rich material and tiny ancient diamonds. We also explore French privateer Robert Surcouf’s audacious 1800 capture of a British ship twice his size, the 1988 international effort to rescue three trapped grey whales in Alaska (which somehow involved Soviet icebreakers during the Cold War), and the USS Wachusett’s diplomatically awkward 1864 decision to ram and capture a Confederate ship in a neutral Brazilian harbour. Four stories about seeing trouble coming, attacking it anyway, unexpected international cooperation, and the fine line between rules and results.
