In 1999 NASA lost a Mars probe over pounds and newtons.
A contractor's software gave thruster impulse in pound-force seconds while NASA expected newton-seconds: an error of 4.45 times that sent the craft too close to the planet.
More amazing facts
- 1994 · 1995 The record for the longest single spaceflight, 437 days, belongs to the physician Valeri Polyakov.
- 1996 Dolly the sheep was named after Dolly Parton.
- 1997 One of Deep Blue's moves in the 1997 match may have been a glitch.
- 1999 Bhutan is thought to be the last country in the world to get television, which arrived only in 1999.
- 2002 Australia's first Winter Olympic gold went to the man in last place.
- 2005 The first YouTube video is 19 seconds long and filmed by an elephant enclosure.