Maker of Bad Bolts Is Fined, Banned From NASA Contracts

A San Fernando Valley parts manufacturer was ordered by a federal judge in Los Angeles on Monday to get out of the aerospace fastener business in the next six months after he admitted falsifying documents purporting to show that nuts and bolts installed in a space laboratory had passed required safety tests.

Arthur O. Sammons, 76, of Canoga Park was also fined $62,150 and ordered to pay back the National Aeronautics and Space Administration the $34,500 it paid for the allegedly defective bolts. Sammons also was placed on five years’ probation.

U.S. District Judge Pamela A. Rymer ordered Sammons to liquidate the fastener inventory of his company--A. O. Sammons--under the supervision of NASA inspectors.

Two weeks ago, Sammons pleaded guilty to 43 counts of fraud and making false statements to NASA in connection with the sale of some nuts and bolts installed in Astro I, a space lab scheduled for launch during March, 1990. NASA has said the bolts conceivably could have posed a safety problem for astronauts.

Workers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida have been taking apart the space laboratory since late summer in order to replace all bolts supplied by Sammons. The agency estimated the cost of the disassembly at about $1 million.