Ariane 5 Destroyed by Overflow Error

On June 4, 1996, the maiden flight of the Ariane 5 rocket ended in disaster when it veered off course and self-destructed just 37 seconds after launch. Engineers had reused guidance software from the Ariane 4, which converted a 64-bit floating-point number into a 16-bit integer, causing an overflow error in the inertial reference system. The crash destroyed the rocket and its payload of satellites, resulting in losses estimated at $370 million.

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