This memo was not sent to the administration, it was sent to the management of Morton Thiokol, who could reasonably be expected to understand basic engineering phrases like &quot;loss of human life.&quot;<p>It&#x27;s a real PITA to engineer safe systems (see e.g. IEC 61508 and ISO 13849 in industrial automation), but it saves lives, and if you&#x27;re in a position where Sales, Production, etc. is trying to get you to rush the Engineering work so they can make deadline, you&#x27;ve got to find the backbone to say &quot;no,&quot; even if it hurts you professionally.