Ethics and space

Crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger

On January 28^th, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded seventy-three seconds after launch, killing all seven crew members.  The cause for the explosion was attributed to the O-rings used in the solid rocket boosters (SRBs).  One of the O-rings that seal the multiple sections of the SRBs failed and began to leak fuel during launch which led to the explosion.

Concerns about the overall design of the SRBs and their use of O-rings had already been reported.  Engineers were very concerned about the unusually cold weather that Florida was having and how it might affect the launch. Critical components of the shuttle, including the O-rings, had not been tested for that range of temperatures.  The launch had been delayed for several days and pressure had been increasing for NASA to launch.  Despite multiple engineers on a conference call with NASA explaining their concerns, NASA opted to launch stating that there was not enough data to show that the shuttle would blow up if launched in those temperatures.  They launched and seven people died.

Being employed by NASA means being employed by the federal government, specifically the executive branch; an agency that has written rules for everything (whether the POTUS follows them or not is a topic to be explored in a different blog post).  On a new hire’s first-day of working at NASA, they can expect to receive a copy of “Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch.”  A one-hundred-page document that outlines exactly what is expected of their employees in regard to their code of ethics.   

Working for NASA, a few ethical considerations that will be a regular part of my job are my competence, candor, and confidentiality.  It is pretty obvious why competence is needed to work at NASA.  Project costs for NASA are extremely high and yet only half of one-cent for every hundred dollars that you pay in taxes will go to NASA.  Not knowing the proper use of a specialized tool can break things, including people, and breaking things costs money.  Something NASA has not figured out how to grow on trees yet.  The engineers involved with Challenger showed good candor to NASA by explaining their concerns about the limited range of temperatures that the components had been tested with.  They didn’t have data that said the shuttle would blow up but they knew that there could be problems that might threaten the mission and recommended delaying the launch.  I will need to show the same level of candor in my work so that I minimize the risk of feeling like I should have said something.  Confidentiality will be a requirement because of NASA’s relationship with the Department of Defense as well as exciting projects that are not public information yet.

I want to work for NASA but if I don’t follow a strong ethical path I can endanger the life of my coworkers, I can waste money, and I can cause entire projects to be scrapped.  Not only is the safety of my coworkers important but their livelihood is important as well.  Having a project scrapped means potential layoffs and who wants to be the cause of that?

References

Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster, Wikipedia,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster, accessed 10/04/2017

Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch, Ethics Program, Office of the General Counsel, NASA, https://www.nasa.gov/offices/ogc/general_law/ethics_resources_page.html, accessed 10/11/2017

Mike Markel’s Practical Strategies for Technical Communication, 2nd ed., Bedford/St. Martin’s, accessed 10/04/2017