The meteorite over Chelyabinsk arrived less than a day before asteroid 2012 DA14 was expected to pass Earth very closely (about 17,510 miles). But experts said the two events were not connected. There were lots of rumors and conspiracy theories, however, in the first few hours after the incident. Reports on Russian state television and in local media suggested that the meteorite was blown apart by local air defense units at an altitude of more than 15 miles.
What did rumours say about the Russian military and air defense?
They exploded the meteorite into pieces They only responded to the incident after a few hours had passed They detected the asteroid 2012 DA14 They ignored the impending meteorite