You will write a paper examining the moral and ethical issue of approving, agreeing or disagreeing with a decision.
You will have the single perspective of Morton Thiokol (the company’s perspective).
Ethics are the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the conduct of the members of a profession.
Morality is the concern with the distinction between good and evil or right and wrong conduct.
All professions – business, medicine, teaching, law and engineering – have adopted codes of ethics to guide professional behavior. All of these codes generally state that the professional should “do what’s right.” The problem is the person/professional who is defining what is “right”.
Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties:
Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.
Perform services only in areas of their competence.
Issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner.
Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees.
Avoid deceptive acts.
Conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession.
Background:
The U.S. Congress passed legislation establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a civilian agency responsible for coordinating America’s activities in space, on July 29, 1958.
NASA was created in response to the Soviet Union’s October 4, 1957 launch of its first satellite,
Sputnik I
. The 183-pound, basketball-sized satellite orbited the earth in 98 minutes. The
Sputnik
launch caught Americans by surprise and sparked fears that the Soviets might also be capable of sending missiles with nuclear weapons from Europe to America. The United States prided itself on being at the forefront of technology, and, embarrassed, immediately began developing a response, signaling the start of the U.S.-Soviet space race.
On the bitterly cold morning of January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after its launch from Cape Canaveral, crashing into the Atlantic Ocean from an altitude of some 50,000 feet. All seven astronauts aboard were killed including Christa McAuliffe, a high school teacher who had been selected as part of a national “Teacher in Space” initiative. An investigation later found that NASA had known that extreme cold temperatures could result in damage to the spacecraft’s rubber O-rings—which separated its rocket boosters and prevented fuel leaks—but elected to go ahead with the launch, anyway, prompting widespread outrage and the temporary suspension of the space shuttle program.
The space shuttle was engulfed in a cloud of fire just 73 seconds after liftoff, at an altitude of some 46,000 feet (14,000 meters). It looked like an explosion; the media called it an explosion and even NASA officials mistakenly described it that way initially. But later investigation showed that in fact, there was no detonation or explosion in the way we commonly understand the concept. A seal in the shuttle’s right solid-fuel rocket booster designed to prevent leaks from the fuel tank during liftoff weakened in the frigid temperatures and failed, and hot gas began pouring through the leak. The fuel tank itself collapsed and tore apart, and the resulting flood of liquid oxygen and hydrogen created the huge fireball believed by many to be an explosion.
After the collapse of its fuel tank, the Challenger itself remained momentarily intact, and actually continued moving upwards. Without its fuel tank and boosters beneath it, however, powerful aerodynamic forces soon pulled the orbiter apart. The pieces—including the crew cabin—reached an altitude of some 65,000 feet before falling out of the sky into the Atlantic Ocean below. It’s likely that the Challenger’s crew survived the initial breakup of the shuttle but lost consciousness due to loss of cabin pressure and probably died due to oxygen deficiency pretty quickly. But the cabin hit the water’s surface (at more than 200 mph) a full 2 minutes and 45 seconds after the shuttle broke apart, and it’s unknown whether any of the crew could have regained consciousness in the final few seconds of the fall.
Directions:
The paper needs to follow APA format.
Remember, APA includes a coversheet/title page, abstract page, body of the paper, conclusion, and references on a separate page.
Watch the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O_DMyHdq_M
Write a paper describing the decision and position of Morton Thiokol (this is the engineering company).
Hindsight is a luxury, provide at a minimum 2-3 paragraphs describing your position and actions that you, an engineer, believe is correct and/or the right actions to take.