"I sincerely hope that this launch does not result in a catastrophe. I personally do not agree with some of the statements made . . . (that Challenger) is OK to fly."
The comment is from Roger Boisjoly's notebook, written after he returned from a heated meeting with management officials on Jan. 27, 1986, the night before the space shuttle Challenger launched.
Among many tragic stories surrounding the Challenger disaster of 15 years ago, one of the most poignant is that of Thiokol engineers — including Boisjoly — who fought unsuccessfully to halt the launch. The shuttle was powered by booster rockets they had built, but, tragically, those engineers were overruled.
At the time, the Willard, Box Elder County, resident had a promising career with Thiokol. But that all changed starting the night of Jan. 27-28, 1986, when he and a group of other engineers battled to prevent the Challenger lift-off.
A previous launch at 53 degrees had resulted in O-ring damage in both solid booster rockets. This time, the temperature at Cape Canaveral was in the 30s, and the engineers were terrified. Boisjoly feared the cold would make the O rings contract and compromise their ability to seal in the booster's hot propellant gases.
But the eyes of the world were on NASA, and the shuttle had been delayed repeatedly.
One engineer later quoted a NASA official as exclaiming, "My God, Thiokol, when do you want me to launch — next April?"
On Jan. 28, Boisjoly and other engineers watched the launch live on TV. Their worst nightmares were realized as the O rings leaked white-hot propulsion gas, igniting the fuel in the main engine, and the shuttle exploded across the sky.
Boisjoly says the tragedy left him with post-traumatic stress disorder. In October 1986, he resigned from Thiokol.
But leaving the company wasn't the end of his association with Challenger.
Now a semiretired resident of Mesquite, Nev., he travels the country lecturing on business ethics, organizational behavior and professionalism. But it was hard to recover from Challenger, both because of the pain of the accident he had tried to prevent and because of the reactions of others in the business.
"Oh, I was blackballed by industry" for talking about Challenger, Boisjoly said.
"I couldn't get a job at all. When you're branded a whistle-blower, you've got a permanent brand across your forehead." The public can't see it, but industry insiders can, he said.
Before the accident, the only job trouble he had was in selecting which company to work for. When he recovered from post-traumatic stress disorder two years after Challenger and applied for jobs, "it was ridiculous." He got no responses, "absolutely nothing."
He set up a business as a consulting forensic engineer, an expert witness who testified at trials. His primary concern was ethics, and the first line in his consulting contract was that he would tell clients immediately if his findings did not jibe with their cause. That position that got him fired from cases five or six times.
"There are a lot of hired guns out there, which I was not and refuse to be," he said.
He was successful in the business, testifying in many other cases, and, according to Boisjoly, within three years he was making more than he had earned at Thiokol.
In January 1987, students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology asked him to speak about Challenger, and the information he delivered was so detailed that eventually an ethics center placed this material — plus comments from a 1989 talk — on the Internet at onlineethics.org/moral/boisjoly/RB-intro.html.
He gave up his consulting business in 1996 because of heart problems, but he continues to speak out. Boisjoly estimates he has given close to 500 talks since January 1987.
"None of it's been solicited," he said.
"I just got called. . . . I earn enough money to pay my bills. I love what I do."
Recently he gave a presentation in Washington, D.C., and "I had a blast. I meet all kinds of people, wonderful people," he said.
When he uses Challenger as an example, "it's a powerful, powerful case study."
Despite what he feels is shabby treatment by NASA and Thiokol, he said, "I'm not bitter at all. I don't have any anger in my presentation."
Boisjoly says he tells the truth even when honest answers make him look bad. "I want them to know how it really is in the real world."
Students he lectured to in the late 1980s about the accident now have moved into industry. "I've gotten feedback that they are now in position to do something from what they learned in my talk," Boisjoly said.
"It makes me feel wonderful."
E-MAIL: bau@desnews.com