In 1990, a NASA scientist named David Morrison wanted to know his chances of being killed by an asteroid.

It seemed a bit paranoid. After all, no one had ever been killed that way, and there was only one documented meteorite injury. In 1954, an Alabama woman was sitting in her living room when an asteroid crashed through the ceiling, bounced off the radio and bruised her leg.

But just because it hadn’t happened didn’t mean it was impossible, and when Morrison and a colleague ran the numbers, considering both the chances of an asteroid collision and the potential damage, the results were disturbing. Though it seems counterintuitive, over a 50-year period, space rocks are about three times more likely to cause someone’s death than an airplane crash and eight times more likely than a tornado.

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