Wednesday, 14 June 2006

Quality Control

NASA reports that the crash of the Genesis space probe in 2004 was due to sensors used to trigger the parachutes being installed backwards. Marvellous. $264 million worth of machinery bringing back samples of cosmic dust and it's screwed up at the last second by a widget the size of a pen cap.

I've always had a soft spot for Genesis ever since that NASA spokesman declared after the accident that the mission had "been a complete success until then."

Yep. A complete success right up to the moment it ploughed smack into Utah at 200 miles per hour.

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