Rocket Science

NASA doesn't fly shuttle missions over December 31/January 1 because they're not sure what would happen [via kottke]:

"Under some weird circumstance ... if we have an 'Oh my god,' and we have to be up there, I am sure we would figure out a way to operate the vehicle safely," said Steve Oswald, a vice president for Boeing Co., the parent company of the builders and designers of NASA's shuttles. "It just wouldn't be flying in the normal certified mode that we are used to flying."

We can send a man to the moon but...