The Nation - News from Nov. 10, 1987

A small-scale shuttle booster with major flaws built in was successfully fired in an “extremely severe test” to show redesigned O-ring joints can withstand multiple failures, Morton Thiokol Inc. officials said in Brigham City, Utah. The shuttle Challenger was destroyed last year by an O-ring joint failure that allowed hot gas from burning propellant to eat through the side of the ship’s right-hand booster. Since then, the booster fuel segment joints have been redesigned to make them more resistant to such failures.