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Computer Date Glitch May Limit Next Shuttle Launch
n3hat writes "Reuters reports that the next Space Shuttle mission may have to be deferred if it gets too close to the New Year because the onboard computers do not handle the changing of the date in the same way as the ground computers. From the article: '"The shuttle computers were never envisioned to fly through a year-end changeover," space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale told a briefing. The problem, according to Hale, is that the shuttle's computers do not reset to day one, as ground-based systems that support shuttle navigation do. Instead, after December 31, the 365th day of the year, shuttle computers figure January 1 is just day 366."
You know, people like you give programmers a bad rep. You just dive in for the fix without knowing the cause - and on top of that add a few bugs that are even harder to iron out if you happen to be the only person knowing that code segment.