On this day: September 13

Las Vegas Hotel Demolition Mistakenly Levels the Wrong Building

On September 13, 1998, a demolition crew in Las Vegas unexpectedly brought down an adjacent, occupied hotel building instead of the planned structure, causing property loss and prompting investigations into demolition procedures and oversight.

NASA probe loses contact after metric-imperial unit mix-up

On Sept. 13, 1999, NASA lost communication with the Mars Climate Orbiter after a units conversion error caused a trajectory miscalculation; the spacecraft likely entered the Martian atmosphere and broke apart.