In 1962, a single missing character in NASA’s guidance software doomed Mariner 1 just minutes after launch — a transcription error so costly that Arthur C. Clar... (opens in new tab)

On July 22, 1962, at Cape Canaveral, an Atlas-Agena rocket lifted off the pad carrying a small spacecraft called Mariner 1. It was meant to be a historic flight — the first attempt by the United States to send a spacecraft to another planet. The target was Venus. Mariner 1 was carrying a suite of […]