The Chelyabinsk region of Russia was struck by a ten ton meteorite on the morning of February 15, just hours before a 150 foot asteroid is scheduled to pass between Earth and communications satellites. The shock waves from the meteor passing through the atmosphere blew out glass in six cities and four towns, damaged more than 100,000 square meters of glass, and caused nearly 1,000 injuries, most of them related to flying glass.
Russian SF author Boris Strugatsky (b.1933) died on November 19. Strugatsky, worked at Russia’s main astronomical observatory in Pulkovo before he and his brother Arkady became full time science fiction authors. Their work included Roadside Picnic and Hard to Be a God. The brothers were guests of honor at Conspiracy 87, the 45th Worldcon in Brighton, UK. After his brother’s death in 1991, Boris published two more novels, although they did not achieve the success he had when writing with Arkady.