These issues didn't have the software as some kind of cause - MCO failed due to the spec mismatch. Another example of this is Cassini failing to initialize Huyg

These issues didn't have the software as some kind of cause - MCO failed due to the spec mismatch. Another example of this is Cassini failing to initialize Huygens fully before separation, and many others - these were not software issues as software was compliant with the spec. AFAIR early Proton-Ks failed due to the process issues - impossibly high cadence (typical at the time) and the lack of integration testing with Block D, and N1 3L's issue with KORD was external interference caused by fire. Edit: I stand corrected - the MCO failure report [1] says that the software behavior was against the spec. So yeah, it's a software failure indeed. [1] http://sunnyday.mit.edu/accidents/MCO_report.pdf http://sunnyday.mit.edu/accidents/MCO_report.pdf