Quote:
Originally Posted by Roger
Y'know, a single missing character once brought down an unmanned rocket. (Haven't found an online source for this, but I think I originally saw it in an early Arthur C. Clarke book.)
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It was Mariner 1 launched Aug, 1962. I was taking my first programming course when the news of the cause of the failure started coming out. I remember it well (or as well as you can remember 40+ years ago).
NASA said a hyphen was missing.
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/maste...g.do?sc=MARIN1
Wikipedia says Clakre's mention of it is in "The Promise of Space" 1968, page 225.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_1
The comment in this article says a semicolon error (C vs shell) brought down Ariane 501.
http://praxis101.com/blog/2006/01/ar...torys-wor.html