The Pentagon's inspector general cited key contractors in the military's primary space launch program, including billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX and Aerojet Rocketdyne Inc., for a range of quality-control lapses which it said could result in increased costs or delays to launches.
SpaceX, Aerojet Rocketdyne and United Launch Alliance LLC — a partnership between Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. — were cited for 181 "nonconformities" to aerospace industry standards, according to an audit published Friday. Of those, 68 were considered major lapses, the rest minor.
"We found that ULA, SpaceX and AR did not perform adequate quality assurance management," according to the audit by Randolph Stone, the Pentagon's deputy inspector general for policy and oversight. "ULA's, SpaceX's and AR's inadequate quality assurance management could increase program costs, delay launch schedules and increase the risk of mission failure."