Challenger Ethical Dilemmas

The ethical situation surrounding the decision to launch the space shuttle Challenger in January 1986 involved the highest level of management at three space centers: Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Johnson Space Center in Houston, and the Marshall Space Flight Center. Management and engineers with Morton Thiokol, a NASA contractor that manufactured the solid booster rockets, also joined these discussions that resulted in catastrophic failure. Launch discussions took place throughout the day and evening of January 27, 1986 with Morton Thiokol engineers concluding that it would be too dangerous to launch if temperatures were below 53 degrees Fahrenheit with NASA officials welcoming the recommendation not to launch but challenged the qualitative observation of
Morton Thiokol was pressured to provide quantitative data to support their recommendation but without firm figures to determine that the launch would be unsafe, top management to withdraw their no-go recommendation (Rogers Commission, 1986). The commission investigated the accident and point to a flaw in the decision-making process as a contributory cause. According to (Rossow, 2012), there are several issues to consider that make it difficult to distinguish unethical behavior from the technical mistakes leading to the Challenger disaster. Did NASA feel pressure to maintain funding for the program risking safety over meeting launch schedules and did Morton Thiokol top management fear losing its contract to NASA violating its duty to put public safety first? Elements of whistle blowing were also present as two engineers, Roger Boisjoly and Alan McDonald, went beyond organizational parameters to recount the preflight teleconference event providing details that counteract NASA and Morton Thiokol top management’s decision to proceed as planned with the