NASA uncovers computer sabotage by space worker

CTV.ca News Staff

NASA says a space program worker has deliberately sabotaged a computer that was to be transported to the International Space Station.

The sabotage was detected before the computer was loaded onto the shuttle Endeavour, which is scheduled to fly in less than two weeks, NASA said Thursday.

Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's space operations chief, said the unidentified employee works for a NASA subcontractor.

The worker cut wires inside the ISS-bound computer and a similar one not bound for space, he said.

Gerstenmaier didn't identify the subcontractor or where the incident took place, although it apparently happened outside Florida.

"I don't want to speculate on motivation," he said.

The subcontractor reported the damage to the first computer. NASA would have caught the problem through pre-flight testing, he said.

"The damage is very obvious. It's easy to detect. It's not a mystery to us," he said.

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