A RELIC OF THE ARIANE 5 ROCKET DISASTER: RATED AS ONE OF THE TOP 4 WORST COMPUTER BUGS IN HISTORY

A rare 9.5 x 4 cm fragment of the European Space Agency's first (unmanned) Ariane 5 rocket (Flight 501).

A Certificate of Authenticity will be supplied to the buyer, giving full details about how the item was obtained and positively identified.

The Ariane 5 rocket disaster has been rated as one of the top 4 worst computer bugs in history. The rocket was launched from French Guiana on 4 June 1996, and exploded in a gigantic fireball at 4km altitude 37 seconds into its flight. A programming error flipped the rocket 90 degrees in the wrong direction, causing the self-destruct mechanism to trigger, thus destroying the $370 million rocket with its payload of four valuable satellites. This is a piece of super-tough woven carbon reinforced fibre plastic material with a titanium hi-lok fastener which was part of the bulk head of the rocket's fairing stage, manufactured by MT Aerospace.