I seem to remember a couple of rather spectacular failures with the Ariane, including some seriously botched flight control code, which resulted in a subterranean orbit for the first Ariane 5.
It used to be, for a new rocket, it was impossible to get affordable flight insurance. This caused a lot of new rockets to be launched with ballast, just to prove the launch vehicle. Of course, there were some amateur satellite makers who would take an uninsured chance for a free launch on such a rocket (and, a few of them had satellites dropped into the Atlantic, too).
Dave
Biting the hand that feeds IT
