"We'll be keeping an eye out for signs of a repeat performance next year when the Earth-moon system passes through the same region of space, " Cooke said.

CNN: Bright explosion on moon visible from Earth, NASA says

"If we did that, we would repeat a mistake that we've made once before when we pulled out of Afghanistan and that region after the Soviets did" in the late 1980s, he said.

WSJ: Pressure Rises on U.S to Trim Troop Numbers in Afghanistan