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I do not have any great opinion of Nostradamus, although his prediction of the death of Henri II (King of France in his own time) was rather good. But most of the quatrains can say anything, IMO. However, you are right that a rising missile would look like a comet.

While we are on predictions, I was mulling over one recently, from an entirely different source, which is Islamic eschatology. (Yes, yes, anyone offended by Muslim seers and irregular prophecies need read no further. No need to flame me.) This one comes from Imam Jaffari, who is one of the "12 Imams" who are the founders of the Shia sect in Islam. In this sect, they have strong beliefs about the return of the Mahdi (messiah) who will put things right in the world, once it has got to its last stage.

According to many of the predictions of these 12 Imams, the troubles of the last age in the world, which will "fill the earth with injustice and tyranny" will emanate from Iraq. There will be unprecedented warfare there: [Al-Husayn b. Sa'id (reported) on the authority of Mundhir al- Jawzi, on the authority of Abu Abd Allah (Jafar al-Sadiq), peace be on him:] (Mundhir al-Jawzi) said: I heard (Ja'far al-Sadiq) say: "Before the coming of the one who will rise (al-qa'im), peace be on him, the people will be chided for their acts of disobedience by a fire which will appear in the sky and a redness which will cover the sky. It will swallow up Baghdad, it will swallow up Kufa. There blood will be shed and houses destroyed. Death (fana) will occur amid their people and a fear will come over the people of Iraq from which they shall have no rest."

For centuries, these predictions looked rather wild, as Iraq was a complete backwater of no significance. Of course, they look a bit more relevant now. Kufa, incidently, is a town in southern Iraq, a shrine town for the Shia, otherwise an unimportant place, but stragetic on the modern map. In rational terms, one could say that the Imam was imagining violent events in Iraq because it was an important place in his own world. However, I though it interesting to post this, as these predictions circulate and are discussed among some Middle Easterners, just as Nostradamus is in our world.