Space Shuttle Challenger Research

As discussed in class, this is assignment is a research paper on the events and circumstances leading up to the Challenger disaster.

You are to write a summary of the events surrounding the fateful decision, in particular the fateful vote change.

This should include a defence or justification for both the ‘launch’ choice and the ‘don’t launch’ choice, along with the expected result. The paper is to be written from the perspective of information available to the engineers at the time of the event, and without the benefit of hindsight.

Lastly, based on your research of the situation, state whether or not you would have launched. Neither choice is wrong as long as you have a good justification for the decision. Remember that you don’t know the disaster is going to occur as you make the decision.

The paper itself should be 2.5-3.5 pages of text, exclusive of figures used to illustrate points. Line spacing should be at least 1.5, but no more than 2, at a font size of 12. Cite your information sources, especially for major pieces of information that are not well known. If you are unsure if a source should be cited, err on the side of too many citations.

While you can write this as a technical style document if you wish, an informal research report is expected.

I attached the rubric(how it’s going to be graded) in a screenshot