Indeed, the difference between the two is that a driver has no responsibility for any debris already present on the road that they inadvertently caused to damage something. They are however responsible for damage caused by any object they themselves introduced to the roadway.
The NASA equivalent would be pretty straightforward, they are not responsible for any space rocks that they accidentally disturbed from orbit and caused to land on your house, but they are fully responsible if thier own craft or parts thereof fell from space onto your house.