NASA investigates possible sabotage of recorder for International Space Station (NASA subcontractor)

[JohnLocke]

Source: AP

NASA Reports Sabotage of Flight Computer
By Marcia Dunn--Associated Press
Thursday, July 26, 2007
----
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - A space program worker deliberately damaged a computer that is supposed to fly aboard shuttle Endeavour in less than two weeks, an act of sabotage that was caught before the equipment was loaded onto the spaceship, NASA said Thursday.

The unidentified employee, who works for a NASA subcontractor, cut wires inside the computer that is supposed to be delivered to the international space station by Endeavour, said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's space operations chief. The worker also damaged a similar computer that was not meant to fly to space.

The sabotage occurred outside Florida. Gerstenmaier did not identify the subcontractor or where the damage took place.

NASA's inspector general office is investigating.

NASA hopes to fix the computer and launch it Aug. 7 as planned aboard Endeavour. The computer is designed for use aboard the space station, not the shuttle, and the damage would have posed no danger to either shuttle or station astronauts, Gerstenmaier said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6808070,00.html

NASA investigates possible sabotage of recorder for lab
By Mark Carreau--Houston Chronicle
Thursday, July 26, 2007
----
NASA said today it is investigating suspected sabotage of a recorder placed on the shuttle Endeavour for delivery to the space station where it will track physical stresses on the orbiting lab.

The recorder, which does not play a role in protecting astronauts or the space station, was damaged by an unidentified person or persons and will be repaired. NASA today cleared Endeavour for an Aug. 7 launch.




Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6808070,00.html

[C_U_L8R]

1. oh look !!!!!....... a distraction !!!!!!!!!!

well whattayaknow !

[rusty charly]

2. Contractor Sabotages Space Station

Source: The Guardian

A space program worker deliberately damaged a computer that is supposed to fly aboard shuttle Endeavour in less than two weeks, an act of sabotage that was caught before the equipment was loaded onto the spaceship, NASA said Thursday.

The unidentified employee, who works for a NASA subcontractor, cut wires inside the computer that is supposed to be delivered to the international space station by Endeavour, said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's space operations chief. The worker also damaged a similar computer that was not meant to fly to space.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6808070,00.html

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. I know it's the $64,000 question, but...

Why? What possible reason could this guy have for doing this?

[rusty charly]

4. Don't know, but

privatizing EVERYTHING is still the bestest idea ever, right?

:sarcasm:

[SayWhatYo]

6. At first I was thinking maybe he/she was just crazy..

but then if you read on it says that it is used to track physical stresses on the orbiting lab. I don't think it's too far out there to think maybe a contractor was trying to cover up poor quality work.

[smiley_glad_hands]

5. Neocons don't like the Int'l Space Station

Doesn't fit into there goals of militarizing space. Plus all that int'l cooperation is just alittle too touchy/feely for them.

[rusty charly]

7. Plus: their need for 'boundaries'

If it's international, where's the "Us Vs. Them" part? Gotta have that!

[Ian David]

8. No, they don't

The Pale Blue Dot
June 2001

In 1989 both Voyager spacecraft had passed Neptune and Pluto. Carl Sagan wanted one last picture of Earth from "a hundred thousand times" as far away than the famous shots of Earth taken by astronauts from the moon during the Apollo series.

The result is stunning. In Sagan's words, "Because of the reflection of sunlight off the spacecraft, the Earth seems to be sitting in a beam of light, as if there were some special significance to this small world. But it's just an accident of geometry and optics. The Sun emits its radiation equitably in all directions. Had the picture been taken a little earlier or a little later there would have been so sunbeam highlighting the Earth.

"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

"The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors, so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

"Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

"The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand."

--Carl Sagan
from Pale Blue Dot

http://www.humanistsofutah.org/2001/PaleBlueDot_6-01.html

[wryter2000]

9. Lord

Could they be any more predictable?

[rcsl1998]

10. Time to Review the Recent Space Station Computer Problems

Subcontractor? hmmm... The glorious wonders of privatization and the invisible hand of the 'free' market...

[chknltl]

11. OMG! SPACE 'KAIDAS!!!1!!1

...and they've already invaded NASA!!1!11!! Damn you Bill Clinton, Damn you!

[Trajan]

12. I do find it kinda funny how some on this thread jump to far fatched conclusions ....

I recall when the first McDonnell Douglas 'Super 80' had it's main wire harness opened, the interior wires cut, and then the outer wires repackaged around the damage to obscure the fact: of course it was found during functional test, when stuff didn't function ......

Why did someone do that ? ..... I cannot tell you, other than to say it was either due to legitimate or illegitimate grudge, or sociopathic need ... It really doesn't take much to fix damage like that .... there already exists a standard repair process for cut wires in space-certified hardware .... and if it is inside of a black box, there most likely exists a prefabricated wire harness that can easily be switched out .... and the box retested and again certified .....

Such an act doesn't really amount to squat from an operational standpoint .... So one must look into the mind of he who did this to find a more personal 'reason' .... Surely a conspiracy would have thought of something more 'effective' ....

Unless it is a really idiotic bunch of conspirators, expect to find a disgruntled employee who is too stupid to distinguish between personal vendetta and effective action ..... BTW: I dont see the point .... As much as Neocons dream of weaponizing space, this is not the vehicle .....