Related Google Tech Talk: Debugging Code from 60 Million Miles Away https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gZK0tW8EhQ&hd=1
Ron Garret talks about DS1, a project in the 90s where a small team used Lisp to send an autonomous craft into space in a third of the time and at a fraction of the cost of previous comparable projects. (Yes, I couldn't have made up a more HN-friendly story if I tried.)