Interesting point, but he still disobayed the orders of everyone on the shuttle and at the ground control station except Gershon, who will probably face legal censure after the mission for wilfully neglecting to reveal important mission data and jeprodizing the lives of astronauts, not to mention lying to everyone but Ethan and the Russian.
I think the bigger point is that Ethan's actions lead to the destruction of expensive NASA equipment, endangering NASA astronauts, damaging Russian equipment, and jeprodizing the lives of thousands or even millions, because even if the missile warheads didn't detonate in the atmosphere (nuclear weapons aren't like gunpowder, and they require everything working perfectly to create critical mass), they would still shower weapons-grade nuclear material on the ground or water below, creating an environmental catastrophy.
At the very least, Ethan would be kicked out of NASA, regardless of whether or not he was following Girshon's orders. NASA is the kind of place where even clogging the space-toilet can get you kicked out (expensive equipment, difficult or impossible to replace if it's not fixed, could jeoprodize the mission). With the damage his action caused, NASA's definately giving him the boot. At most, he's going to jail, either in a civil trial for destruction of company property, or a court marshal. Or, he could even be found as an accomplice of Gershon and the Russian general, and could even be charged with Treason.
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Bernnard_Black
15 years ago
My guess, given the highly political nature of NASA, would be that Ethan would be quietly retired. No fanfare, no big public noise...just a move to a desk job somewhere in the ass-end of the space center for a year, and then dismissal.
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