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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