
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 12, 1990                   TAG: 9004120818
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

ENGINEER FEARS ANOTHER DISASTER

A Morton Thiokol engineer whose warnings about faulty seals on the space shuttle Challenger were ignored says he doesn't watch shuttle launches because he fears the redesigned seals will lead to another explosion.

"You wouldn't even design a joint like this in your home workshop," Roger Boisjoly told University of Virginia engineering students Tuesday.

The design still relies on O-rings, the small, rubberlike seals that gases burned through in the Challenger disaster. He said the redesign even created more places for gaps to occur.

Boisjoly, 51, said he was shunned within Morton Thiokol after he testified about the disaster before a presidential investigating commission. He later was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and left the company on medical disability.

Today, the mechanical engineer gives talks about professional ethics and whistle-blowing and does consulting work for lawyers in product liability litigation.

Boisjoly urged the engineering students to "defend truth and expose questionable practices that will lead to an unsafe product."

by CNB