A meteor shower over Russia rains space junk on a half-dozen cities, leaving more than 500 people injured. The Russian Interior Ministry says hundreds were cut by flying glass.

A ministry spokesman says at least three people are gravely injured. The Russian Academy of Science says the meteorite likely weighed about ten tons before entering the Earth’s atmosphere at 33-thousand miles per hour.

Non government sources in Russia say the meteorite was shot down by air defense forces. We have no independent confirmation of that.

Meanwhile, NASA will offer live coverage when a small asteroid makes a flyby close to the Earth later today. Astronomers say there’s no danger when the space rock named DA-14 cruises by the Earth at an altitude of 17-thousand miles, which is inside the orbit of most communications satellites.