Developing: NASA Discovers Sabotaged Equipment Headed To ISS

NASA also revealed that it had discovered the apparent sabotage of a noncritical component of the International Space Station due to be carried up by the shuttle. It launched an investigation after finding cut wires in a piece of computer equipment intended to transfer data from station sensors to the ground, the agency said.

Endeavour, fresh from a complete overhaul and the last of NASA’s three remaining shuttles to return to flight following the 2003 Columbia disaster, is due to carry out a construction mission to the $100-billion space station.

It will be NASA’s second shuttle flight of the year.

Endeavour was almost totally rebuilt during its overhaul and was like a new space shuttle, shuttle program manager Wayne Hale told reporters at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the launch will take place.

UPDATE:
It appears that two separate acts of sabotage were involved by a subcontractor. The computers that were affected were non critical and were detected with more than two weeks before the launch of the shuttle. (HT: Gaius) Gaius also wonders why the FBI isn't investigating the matter further, considering the national security and law enforcement implications.

Meanwhile, this wasn't the only bad news to come out from NASA today. It turns out that several astronauts were blasted before they blasted off. They drank heavily and could have been a flight risk, but were cleared by flight doctors despite the risk. Yes, this looks real good for NASA.

Also, an explosion occurred at a Mojave Desert airport, which is home to Scaled Composites, the company that won the X-prize for sending a reusable spacecraft into space twice within the required time limits. Burt Rutan is associated with that effort, which has attracted serious financial backing from Virgin Airlines founder Richard Branson and Northrup Grumman has a 40% stake in the company.

This is a possible setback for the company, which occurred when nitrous oxide tanks blew up.