NASA "losing" large amounts of high-tech equipment -- it "vanished"

In June, NASA’s space shuttle program will take its last flight. The Action News I-Team has uncovered some problems NASA is facing on the ground.

NASA reports obtained by the I-Team show $479,108 dollars worth of high-tech equipment simply vanished at Kennedy Space Center in 2010. I-Team reporter Michael George showed the employee lost property reports to Suzanne Pedone of Inventory Management Solutions. Companies hire IMS to keep track of their inventory and prevent items from falling through the cracks. Pedone says the agency needs to address the problem.

“Something’s broke in the system. It appears that there isn’t really a process working year after year, and it’s probably going to continue to get worse,” she said.

None of the lost equipment is reported to contain classified information. But it is expensive. The items include a video record valued at more than $100,000, 11 radios totaling $35,000, and a wave reflectometer, used to check for breaks in electrical wiring, was lost in 2008, costing $18,000. (read more)