Boeing Offers to Reimburse Government Full Cost of Space Station Tanks

Boeing officials are committed to
resolving the issue of missing International Space Station (ISS) tanks at
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

While the investigations continue, Boeing meanwhile has offered to
reimburse the government the full cost of the tanks regardless of any
responsibility determinations.

“Boeing has offered to compensate NASA for the hardware, and continue to
focus on program objectives,” said Joe Mills, Boeing ISS deputy program
manager.
“As prime contractor we have a good track record of properly caring
for and handling government property, and we are doing everything we can to
resolve this issue.”

An investigation continues to fully understand how two oxygen/nitrogen
high-pressure gas tank orbital replaceable units were misplaced in February
during manufacturing assembly operations at Marshall.
The most probable
explanation of the misplacement of the tanks is that the flight hardware items
were inadvertently discarded, along with the associated shipping containers,
into a trash dumpster and were subsequently discarded.

“A Mishap Report, which documents the findings and recommendations of a
joint Boeing/NASA independent Incident Review Board, will be formally released
early next week,” said Mills.
“Boeing already is taking corrective actions to
fully implement the recommendations of this Board.”