stackyFACTSThe greatest technological leap in mankind's history was double-checked with a fancy ruler. Engineers lacked sufficient computer terminals, so they physically dragged sliding analog scales back and forth to calculate thrust and orbital trajectories. If they slipped by a millimeter, the spacecraft was doomed.
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Navigating a probe across the entire solar system apparently does not require supercomputers. The initial gravity-assist trajectories that slung these famous…
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Genius often flirts with absolute absurdity. Kurt Godel reshaped the foundations of mathematical logic, but his brilliant mind eventually turned entirely…
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Taco Bell executives spotted an incredibly absurd marketing opportunity in 2001 when the Russian space agency announced they were going to de-orbit the…
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What goes up must come down, preferably not on someone's house. When this massive orbital station finally decayed, scientists could not precisely control…
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Blaise Pascal laid the groundwork for modern probability theory, but he was also deeply, terrifyingly religious. Believing that earthly pleasure was a sinful…
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To ensure human astronauts could actually perform tasks in zero gravity without losing their minds, scientists first sent up an extensively trained primate…
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