Jury convicts former NASA contractor of providing false documentation in connection to Orion project

A 32-year-old former NASA contractor faces up to 10 years in federal prison after he was convicted of providing false documentation to a federal agency in connection with a deep-space rocket program at the Kennedy Space Center.

Investigators said the contractor, who worked as a project manager with the California-based CBOL Corporation, falsely certified steel tubing from China despite contractual stipulations with the space agency requiring such material comes from the United States. 

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The specialized tubing would have been used at the Kennedy Space Center to carry hypergolic rocket fuel for use with the Orion project. The Orion spacecraft is designed by Lockheed Martin and is designed to carry humans into deep space. 

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Seongchan “Steven” Yun, of Redondo Beach, California, had worked on a contract that helped provide stainless steel tubing in support of NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion project. A jury convicted Yun at the U.S. Middle District in Orlando.

Yun, who was indicted March 13, will be sentenced March 2.

Federal prosecutors said Yun caused the steel tubing to be shipped to the Kennedy Space Center on July 14. He then later prepared certification that the Chinese tubing conformed with NASA's contractual requirements. Despite that, NASA employees were suspicious about the material, court records show.

Federal investigators said the steel tubing later failed suitability testing for use in the fueling programs overseen by the space agency. Yun initially told investigators that he did not know the material had to be produced domestically, records show. Later he offered an admission that he was aware of the contract's stipulation for American-made tubing, records show.

The case was investigated by NASA's inspector general's office. 

“The NASA Office of Inspector General will continue to aggressively investigate those who undermine and defraud NASA efforts to build the SLS launch vehicle and its systems,” Special Agent in Charge John Corbett, Central Field Office said in a statement.

“This jury verdict serves as a staunch reminder that such conduct will not be tolerated."

Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641, jdgallop@floridatoday.com and Twitter @JDGallop