FIRE IN THE SKY: Meteor slams Earth, on eve of Asteroid DA14 flyby, injuring nearly 1,000 Russians

Screen shots from amateur footage of the meteor explosion over Russia

As NASA scientists and the world prepared for a “close, but safe” flyby of a small near-Earth asteroid named 2012 DA14, the heavens awoke with an early surprise over the skies of Russia this morning as what appeared to be a fast-moving meteor slammed into buildings and other structures.

The destruction caused by the explosive meteor, racing through the sky at a hyper-sonic speed of  more than 33,000 MPH, was captured on amateur video and posted to YouTube.

Global news agencies reported that nearly 1,000 people are seeking medical attention for injuries sustained in the blast, and more than 3,000 buildings damaged in Chelyabinsk, a city of about 1 million people.

NASA moved quickly on Fri. to calm fears that the Asteroid DA14 would produce similar consequences.

“NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office can accurately predict the path of the small near-Earth asteroid 2012 DA14,” the Agency said in a website update. “There is no chance that the asteroid might be on a collision course with Earth.”

Russia’s space agency issued a statement confirming an “object” descended from the heavens.

“A space object came down in the city of Chelyabinsk on Feb. 15,” according to a press report of the Russian Federal Space Agency. “According to preliminary estimates, it was a space body of non-anthropogenic origin later classified as a meteorite.

“It followed a low trajectory going at a speed of some 30 kilometers per second,” the Agency said.

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