ipl-logo

Space Shuttle Challenger Case Study

1611 Words7 Pages

A. Summary
Learning from the case-study of the space shuttle “Challenger” flight STS-51L disasters, which explodes after launching seventy-three seconds. Failure of O-ring seals has been interpret by the Commission, during the investigation. Several engineering ethical issues and values, such as the accuracy of data presented, the honesty and integrity of the personnel, the respect for regulation and informed consent, and the responsibility of the personnel could be discussed and evaluated.
B. Background of the incident[1]
On 28 January 1986 at 11:38am EST, space shuttle challenger flight STS-51L consists of seven astronauts whom depart for a mission from Kennedy space centre in Florida, United States. Unfortunately, after seventy-three seconds …show more content…

- Honesty and integrity
Issue 1 presents that, NASA has ambitiously scheduled twenty-four shuttle flights per year, but does not mean that any individuals in NASA did not rank the concern of the congress funding over the safety concerns in the launch decision. And Issue 2 presents that, NASA has the intention to source for second supplier for the SRBs, but it does not shows that unsafe launch decisions were being made as well.
Both issues shows the possibility that the ambitious schedule and the source for supplier might affect the decision make over the concern of safety. But none of the unsafe launch decisions have been made, and showing that the integrity of professional conducts and respect for the rights have been adopted.
Issue 3 presents the violation of informed consent that the information, such as the icing form on the launch pad and failure of O-ring was not informed to the crewmembers to obtain their consent for the continuation of launch, which violates the standard professional conduct of openness and fairness of information to the crewmembers, and committing to retrospective …show more content…

Failures must be identify and solve in the early stage of design, and the data must be properly consolidated and documented to prevent any misled of information. Informed consent should not be violated and all information should be make cleared to the participants who opt to participate in experiment. Lastly, engineers should uphold the dignity of their profession and to adopt the utmost standards of their professional

Show More
Related

Compare And Contrast Disaster In The Sky By Kristin Lewis

534 Words | 3 Pages

Others pounded their fists in anger.” “Seventy-three seconds later, hundreds on the ground, including Christa’s family, stared in disbelief as the shuttle broke up in a forking plume of smoke and fire.” ”The Space Shuttle program formally ended on August 31, 2011 after its final mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.”The space shuttle program continued until 2011, flying more than 100 missions. Its legacy is extraordinary.” People didn’t know how to react.

Read More

The Chain Of Command Of Morton Thiokol And NASA

369 Words | 2 Pages

Several months before the launching, Roger Boisjoly- a seal expert at Thiokol- showed problems with the O-rings due to high risk of potential

Read More

Ellison Onizuka Character Traits

536 Words | 3 Pages

Ellison died on January 28th, 1986. He was only 39 years old and had his own family, and died in a heroic manner for his country. Onizuka died on the Space Shuttle Challenger at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida due to a malfunction of the ship. Ellison Onizuka had a wife and two daughters he lost because of this terrible accident. He died trying to advance his country’s knowledge of space and was in the Air Force before that testing aircraft to make sure the United States’ soldiers were safe.

Read More

Ronald Reagan Speech Rhetorical Analysis Essay

873 Words | 4 Pages

One minute and thirteen seconds. The last entry on the flight transcript: LOSS OF ALL DATA. On January 28, 1986, the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded 73 seconds into its flight. Aboard were five astronauts, one of whom, Christa McAuliffe, was ready to become the first school teacher in space. Sadly, none of the five survived.

Read More

Compare And Contrast Disaster In The Sky And The History Channel

439 Words | 2 Pages

According to the text , “It confirmed that the cause of the catastrophe was a failure in one of the rocket boosters specifically, the O-rings” (Lewis 9). This shows that one of the main reasons the Challenger exploded was because one of the O-rings broke. Similarly, the History Channel states, “The investigation determined that the disaster was caused by the failure of an O-ring seal in one of the two solid-fuel rockets” (paragraph 4). This shows

Read More

Ronald Reagan Challenger Disaster Rhetorical Analysis

1002 Words | 5 Pages

On January 28th, 1986, Ronald Reagan, the president of the United States at the time, in his speech, entitled “Challenger Disaster,” addressed the Challenger Disaster. He supported this claim by first mourning over the tragedy, then he promoted NASA, also he tried to make sense of this calamity, and finally he informed the audience that the seven astronauts will never be forgotten and as a country we will be forever thankful for their service. Through Reagan’s use of tone, rhetorical analysis, and rhetorical tools he effectively persuaded America to mourn and appreciate the lives of the seven astronauts loss and to convince American people to continue their support for NASA and move forward as a country. Reagan unified America with his supportive

Read More

Sally Ride Research Paper

660 Words | 3 Pages

On June 18, 1983, on the space shuttle Challenger, Ride became the first American woman to ever fly in space. More than half million people watched the Challenger launching (Saari 1997). During the trip, Ride and John Fabian operated the shuttle's robotic arm, using it for the first time to deploy and retrieve a satellite (McKee 2012, 460). Crippen was offered two flights for the next year, and he said he only would accept if Ride would be on his crew. Ride served as the flight engineer again, and it was the first time a mission specialist made a second flight, this was also Ride's last flight (McKee 2012,

Read More

Argumentative Essay: The Challenger Tragedy

291 Words | 2 Pages

Seventy-three seconds after liftoff, “… the shuttle exploded in a forking plume of smoke and fire”(CT), as the people below watched their loved ones in their final moments. The astronauts that boarded the space shuttle Challenger on that cold morning took a huge risk by proceeding with the launch, despite the unfavorable weather conditions. Almost 30 years later, the Challenger tragedy is still a memorable event to this day. Everyone should take risks because they would never know the rewards or consequences, unless they try. Feeling a sense of pride after taking a big risk is a reward in itself.

Read More

Safeblend's Strongest Argument

150 Words | 1 Pages

- Travis seems to have the strongest argument. I do not think that BNG assigned a lower employee to indicate they not appreciate Safeblend's way of taking advantage of insider information since they openly shared the info. I think that is only a signal sent to Safeblend indicating that competitors are offering the same alternative at a better price than that of Safeblend. - Since I only have 2 arguments to evaluate, I will give Don the weakest argument.

Read More

Mark Of The Beast Research Paper

588 Words | 3 Pages

As an aspiring engineer this topic is very important to me because I may work in this field when I am older.

Read More

The Four Main Ethical Theory Of Beauchamp And Childress

1167 Words | 5 Pages

Relevant legal and ethical considerations, focusing on the 4 main ethical principles and how each of these apply to this case using research evidence. Focusing on the ethical theory of Beauchamp and Childress, it is considered one of the most fundamental elements for beginning a discussion in the Not for resuscitation (NFR) debate. (Fornari, 2015). The four main ethical principles, autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice hold the grounding block for issues of this nature. End of life care is an imperative characteristic of acute stroke nursing, as stroke mortality rates remain high, regardless of enhancements in the health care industry.

Read More

Essay On Challenger Disaster

1009 Words | 5 Pages

Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster On 28 January 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger on Mission 51 - L broke apart 73 seconds after the launch and it resulted in the death of all seven crew members on board. The challenger started to break into parts after the failure of right Solid Rocket Booster 's O-ring seal. After that, the external tank was destroyed by the explosive burn of hydrogen and oxygen propellants, and Aerodynamic forces completely broke up the orbiter. On the other hand, the crew compartment and other vehicle components were recovered from the Atlantic Ocean after the extended search and operation.

Read More

Analysis: The Hindenburg Incident

703 Words | 3 Pages

Some scientists believe that St. Elmo’s fire was present at the time of the incident. This phenomenon compounded by recent experiments that suggest the craft was leaking hydrogen, caused the gas to be ignited, and channeled it back into the dirigible causing the explosion (Dowling

Read More

Apollo 13 Research Papers

1450 Words | 6 Pages

Launched on April 11, 1970 at 1:13 pm (central time) from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the Apollo space program. Apollo 13 was aborted two days after the launch because an oxygen tank exploded. In this mission, to explore space there was a brave crew of men who risked their lives to explore space for more undiscovered information. These men went out of this world not knowing if they would make it to space or back, anything could have happened. They all had family that watched them leave and waited for them to come back.

Read More

Challenger Disaster Case Study

2231 Words | 9 Pages

On January 28th 1986 the space shuttle Challenger launched and exploded only 73 seconds into flight shocking the world and killing the crew of seven. This disaster left the NASA community and its various engineering teams baffled to explain the disaster and some not surprised; while all wanted answers to questions as to why and how this disaster could have occurred, while some already held the data on what could have been the factors for disaster. 2 Research performed indicates there were a number of communication problems both internally with NASA and their Engineering team at Morton –Thiokol Engineering that lead to the disaster in question, specifically poor communication between NASA and the Engineering firm Morton –Thiokol Engineering, the designer of the Solid Rocket Booster (SRB), that was discovered after the accident through analysis of existing and post launch data. More specifically this paper will discuss engineering concerns about O-ring design of the (SRB) brought to the attention of NASA

Read More

More about Space Shuttle Challenger Case Study

Related Topics

Open Document