At Least It Wasn’t Chewing Gum

Super glue was used on engines of NASA shuttles that were flown in space, officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said Friday.

The unauthorized use of the hobby store glue by technicians at Valencia-based Paragon Precision Products was discovered in a servicing of the main engine’s low-pressure turbo pump.

Paragon is a small company that specializes in aircraft turbo pumps and subcontracts pump repairs to the Rocketdyne division of Rockwell International, the prime contractor of shuttle main engines. Paragon officials did not return telephone calls.

June Malone, a NASA spokeswoman, said the glue was used to hold metal plating inside the pump. The glue itself presented no safety or performance risk, she said. But she noted, “It was an unauthorized procedure, and we don’t like to see that.”