Deja vu

From: Ward Donald Griffiths III <gram_at_cnct.com>
Date: Wed Sep 2 20:33:50 1998

Aaron Michael Walkhouse wrote:

> D'oh! You'd think that after The Famous Ariane 5 Fireball that every launch
> since would have that checked as part of the countdown.
> That one was way too spectacular to forget.

I forget if I've plugged the book here before (I know I've plugged
it every bloody where else and given away a dozen licensed copies
as well), but for a _good_ description of a trivial software glitch
screwing up a launch, I recommend the Prometheus Award winning
novel _Kings of the High Frontier_ by Victor Koman. It is now out
in a limited edition hardcover (I bought one at Worldcon), but the
HTML version is still available from <http://www.pulpless.com/>.
Yes, the book is unashamedly libertarian (as am I). But imagine
the sight if the Solid Rocket Boosters either side of a NASA
shuttle happened to light off a fraction of a second apart. (SRBs
can't be throttled the way liguid-fueled engines can).
-- 
Ward Griffiths <mailto:gram_at_cnct.com> <http://www.cnct.com/home/gram/>
When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked me if I had any
firearms with me.  I said "Well, what do you need?"  --  Steven Wright
Received on Wed Sep 02 1998 - 20:33:50 BST

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