NASA investigates possible sabotage of recorder for lab
By MARK CARREAU
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
NASA is investigating the apparent sabotage of electronic equipment bound for the international space station aboard the shuttle Endeavour, officials said Thursday.
The damage involves the cutting of wires in a device meant to record and transmit to Mission Control several measurements of stresses to the space station structure, according to NASA.
The equipment is not considered essential to astronaut safety.
William Gerstenmaier, the agency's associate administrator for space operations, said the contractor company responsible for the device reported the damage to the wires of a test version about 10 days ago.
Similar damage later was found inside the version of the device that had been sent to the Florida shuttleport for loading aboard Endeavour. It had not been placed aboard the spacecraft.
Gerstenmaier declined to name the company involved.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the sabotage appeared to have occurred in early June, while the devices were still at Invocon Inc., an electronics firm and Boeing Co. subcontractor in Conroe.
"We don't know if it's one or more people,'' said Kevin Champaigne, an executive at the company, which has about 30 employees.
The damaged device should be repaired in time to fly aboard the shuttle, which is scheduled for liftoff Aug. 7.
NASA officials said they do not know who damaged the equipment or what the motive for sabotage might be.
The disclosure of the sabotage investigation came on an already troubling day for NASA, as it faced questions about a report that shuttle astronauts in at least two instances were launched into space despite warnings that they posed a safety risk by being intoxicated.
Gerstenmaier said he wanted to dispel any suspicion that union machinists who are on strike against the NASA's shuttle prime contractors, United Space Alliance, were involved in the damage to the device.
The strike by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers has been under way since mid-June.
The company responsible for the recording device also supplies an external sensor system used aboard the shuttle to detect any impact on the spacecraft's wings from debris.
Gerstenmaier offered assurances that other equipment had not been damaged intentionally.
"This was fairly recent," he said. "We surveyed essentially all of the hardware that was provided by this particular contractor. We have reviewed the perfomance and made sure the hardware is performing exactly the way it is supposed to."
Educator astronaut
Over an 11- to 14-day mission, Endeavour's crew of seven astronauts will expand the international space station with new components and replace a failed steering gyroscope.
Endeavour's crew includes Barbara Morgan, NASA's second educator astronaut.
Morgan, 55, served as the backup to New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, who perished with six others in the 1986 explosion of Challenger.
After returning to her classroom in McCall, Idaho, Morgan joined NASA in 1998 to train as a professional astronaut.
Her duties on the flight will include robot arm operations and cargo transfers.
mark.carreau@chron.com
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The ISS from Atlantis on June 10, 2007.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has reported that a space program worker deliberately cut the wires on a computer that was bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The employee has yet to be identified, but works for a subcontractor for NASA.

Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA Space Operations Chief, stated that the sabotage occurred outside of Florida at an unnamed subcontractor. The same worker allegedly damaged another computer that was not bound for the space station.

"I don't want to speculate on motivation. The damage is very obvious. It's easy to detect. It's not a mystery to us," said Gerstenmaier.

The device is reported to be a recorder for the ISS that would monitor stress the station receives while it is in orbit. NASA states that it will repair the computer so it is ready for the Space Shuttle Endeavour on August 7. 

Investigations are "going on and I'd rather let that get handled that way," added Gerstenmaier.