This urban legend refers to a computer program at NASA which experienced an apparent bug. In some versions of the legend, Mr. Harold Hill, president of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore Maryland publicized the event. The NASA computers were running a program that computed the locations of the sun, moon, and planets at any time in the future or past. The purpose of the program was to prevent artificial satellites from colliding with these objects. This allegation is a good indication that the story is an urban legend. Even satellites which are in geosynchronous orbit are only 22,241 miles (35,786 kilometers) above the surface of the earth, whereas the moon is more than ten times further away, and the sun and planets are tens of millions of miles from earth. 11 So there is no possibility of a collision, and thus no need for such a program. The legend maintains that the program allegedly failed consistently at a specific date in the past. Exactly 23 hours and 20 minutes was missing.
2006-07-11
08:20:17
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Anonymous