Its micro-meteoroid protection is inadequate, so space-walking astronauts will have to install additional shielding, though not until 2004.

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On Saturday, Bill Cooke from NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office explained that the bright, fast-flying object was, in fact, a meteor.

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The national space agency, Roscosmos, said scientists believed one meteoroid had entered the atmosphere, where it burned and disintegrated into fragments.

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Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, said scientists believe the object originated in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

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"It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we've ever seen before, " said Bill Cooke, of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office.

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The national space agency, Roscosmos, said scientists believed one meteoroid had entered the atmosphere, where it burned and disintegrated into fragments, according to RIA Novosti.

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Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, said by e-mail that the shooting stars would be visible after about 11 p.m. in each time zone in the United States, with the best viewing time from 3 a.m. until dawn.

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