I would’ve prefered that if the rocket did hit Meteor and destroy it…only for Sephiroth to recast it and have everyone panicking again. Through in some in battle mechanics to the plot. >: )
So, he wasn’t willing to let all that power and knowledge be destroyed in a plan that was untested and only had a marginal chance of actually succeeding (remember, the Meteor is not a normal asteroid, but a magical entity).
It could also be thought that he might have also done it purely to hassle the Shinra (even Cait Sith mentions this after the rocket crashes into Meteor and Cloud returns to earth), but because it was an attempt to save the world, this seems unlikely.
Haha, that’s what I said.