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TIL that Big Bird escaped death from the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion

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via reddit.com

kJVPB TIL that NASA lost a $330m Mars Orbiter in 1999, immediately before mars orbit was achieved, because one of the contracted US companies used imperial units instead of metric.
Bowr TIL the pilot who successfully ditched Flight 1549 in the Hudson River in 2009 was an expert on airline safety, an NTSB accident investigator, published a paper on airline crew psychology in a crisis, and had his pilot’s certificate in gliders.
rNm6y TIL that the oldest known reference to crisps (potato chips) dates to 1817, when an Englishman named William Kitchiner included them in his book 'The Cook's Oracle'
vPjKR TIL after the band The Sisters of Mercy split up, singer Andrew Eldritch heard his ex-bandmates were starting a new band called The Sisterhood. Eldritch secured legal rights to the name, and released a critically panned single the same day his ex-bandmates played their debut show. Both bands failed.
8a0x4 TIL that Johnny Appleseed, of American folklore fame, may have been planting apples that were good for eating, but suitable for making hard cider from. He was basically going around planting apples to eventually turn into booze, and that is why he was so welcome wherever he went.