What's interesting is, explosions and fire in general need oxygen. This meteor had no atmosphere, yet the explosions were spectacular to say the least...
It's all for the show! It's much more exciting when a big rock
explodes (preferably with a big bang) it's in about every movie
in space (have you seen Star Wars?)
Think about the shuttle; What fuels the shuttle? Hydrogen and Oxygen!!!!!!!
If you consider the quantities that it is present in on the shuttle, you would
get one spectacular explosion!