MOSCOW, February 26 (RIA Novosti) – The powerful blast of a meteorite above the Urals city of Chelyabinsk was probably caused by its previous “space collisions” with other celestial bodies, said Professor Erik Galimov of the Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry.

Fragments of the meteorite were taken to the institute’s lab on Monday.

“[The meteorite] experienced collisions in space before entering the atmosphere. Probably, this caused its disintegration, or fragmentation, which later resulted in such a powerful blast. Such blasts to not always occur when meteors fall,” Galimov said.

He said that findings made by experts in Moscow confirmed preliminary results of the meteorite’s test in a lab of the Urals Federal University.

Windows were shattered and walls were damaged by shockwaves in thousands of mostly residential buildings, as the meteorite streaked through the sky over the Chelyabinsk Region on February 15 and exploded in the atmosphere. Over 1,500 people were injured, most by flying glass shards.