An employee of Invocon Inc., a Houston-based subcontractor to Boeing and United Space Alliance, is the focus of an investigation by the FBI, NASA and other federal authorities for alleged sabotage of a small computer box planned for launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on STS-118 Aug. 7.

Investigators do not believe the incident is connected with the ongoing strike at the Kennedy Space Center by about 570 United Space Alliance aerospace workers (DAILY, June 15), according to Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's space operations chief. But the investigation is still under way.

An employee at Invocon discovered the damage before the network interface unit box was shipped to Kennedy Space Center. Wires and other internal components were damaged.

The device will be repaired and launched to the station as planned. It will be mounted in the Destiny laboratory to receive data from strain gauges on the ISS truss and relay it to engineers on the ground.