One of history's greatest tragedies occurred on January 8, 1986. Shortly after its launch, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, killing seven astronauts, including Christa McAuliffe , a New Hampshire teacher chosen to be the first teacher in space (“Challenger Disaster, n.d.). The explosion was caused by a failure of the O-rings of the solid fuel rockets. The O-rings failed to seat properly, causing hot combustion gases to escape and burn through the external fuel tank. The malfunction was not the fault of one person or one organization; was caused by many factors, including the decision to launch in cold weather, poor communication between senior levels of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and NASA management's willingness to launch the shuttle ("Engineering Ethics," n.d.) . Alan McDonald, a Morton-Thiokol employee and director of the project to build the solid rockets, urged NASA management not to launch Challenger at the scheduled time after company management wrote a launch recommendation . Despite his pleas, NASA decided to continue with the target date, even though the target temperature was not within operational requirements (“Engineering Ethics,” n.d.). This decision, according to the National Society of Professional Engineers Code I.1, engineers must “hold as paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public” (“Code of Ethics,” n.d.). By choosing to launch in substandard conditions, they directly endangered the lives of the seven astronauts who were supposed to be aboard the Challenger. The results of this decision occurred in the worst possible scenario: all seven lost their lives in disastrous ways. Also…half the paper…isn't worth human life. Works Cited Challenger Disaster. (n.d.). Encyclopedia Britannica online. Retrieved January 17, 2014, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1494445/Challenger-disaster#ref1096611Code of Ethics. (n.d.). National Society of Professional Engineers. Retrieved January 16, 2014, from http://www.nspe.org/resources/ethics/code-ethicsEngineering Ethics. (n.d.). Texas A&M University. Retrieved January 17, 2014, from http://ethics.tamu.edu/Portals/3/Case%20Studies/Shuttle.pdfNeuner, K., & Rider, J. (n.d.). The challenger's disaster. Northern Kentucky University. Retrieved January 17, 2014, from http://studenthome.nku.edu/~riderj/challenger%20report.pdfThe Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster. (n.d.). Seton Hall University. Retrieved January 18, 2014, from http://pirate.shu.edu/~mckenndo/pdfs/The%20Space%20Shuttle%20Challenger%20Disaster.pdf