In 1998 we will begin the construction of the Space Station. A 'bumper' will be installed on the leading edge of the station to vaporize harmlessly any particles up to a centimeter in size. NASA's 'Haystack radar' has been monitoring radar signals from a small spot in the sky and has detected over 400,000 pieces of debris about 5 millimeters or larger passing over head. The US Space Command routinely tracks over 8000 objects 10 centimeters across or larger. It is expected that the Space Station will have a 1 percent risk per year of being hit, and holed, by a debris particle or meteor. In its 10 year lifetime, this is 1 chance in 10. Pretty bad odds. This does not include dozens of hits per month that are expected to be shielded by the 'bumper' system. I do not know if I would want to work in a room where there is a good chance that someone will fire a 'cosmic bullet' that would penetrate the walls and perhaps hit me, or cause a catastrophic leak before I could scramble into a spacesuit. You can be sure that the first time this happens, there will be a major Congressional investigation into who is at fault. 'the fault is not in ourselves but in the stars!". If you want more information, there is a NASA site that has a pretty good, illustrated document reviewing the problem of orbital debris for spacecraft.