33 Of History's Most Unbelievable Screwups
"Failure isn't fatal, but failure to change might be" —John Wooden
We’ve done some dumb things over the years. Here are some of the biggest fails in history.
1. Challenger Mistake
When the Challenger shuttle blew up in 1986, only 73 seconds after its launch, all seven astronauts aboard were tragically incinerated, and the American public became traumatized by the televised tragedy. What went wrong? The O-ring seal in the joint of its right solid rocket booster failed at liftoff due the low temperatures. The O-ring was known to fail at low temperatures, but the managers of the launch ignored the warnings of the engineers about the low temperatures.
2. Who Let the Bees Out
The Africanized bee that has spread across the American continents isn’t a naturally occurring bee, and was actually cross-bred in Brazil during the 1950s.
These highly aggressive and territorial bees escaped from quarantine and have since continued their way North into the United States, first showing up in North America 1985.
3. Muddy Assault
One of the most important English victories during the Hundred Years War with France was the Battle of Agincourt, when King Henry V led his army into France and came up head to head with a larger army. However, the commander of the French army really screwed up his advantage. He went at the English army in a very muddy field, so the heavily-armored French became sitting ducks for the famed English archers, who picked off the slipping and sliding French with ease.
