CANOGA PARK : NASA Chief Gives Qualified Praise to Rocketdyne

NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin gave qualified praise Thursday to Rocketdyne, the Canoga Park-based aerospace firm that was plagued last year by an embarrassing series of problems involving engines it makes for the space shuttle program.

After a 90-minute tour of Rocketdyne’s sprawling main factory, Goldin said the company has made some progress in correcting quality control problems that caused two shuttle launches to be aborted seconds before liftoff and two other scheduled flights to be postponed, much to NASA’s chagrin.

“The quality slipped up a bit, and we let them know that in no uncertain terms,” said Goldin, standing amid a group of Rocketdyne executives that included Paul B. Smith, the firm’s president. “To their credit, they have stepped up. We’re getting there. . . . But they have some more work to do,” he said.

With 5,800 workers, Rocketdyne, a division of Seal Beach-based Rockwell International Corp., is the San Fernando Valley’s largest aerospace employer. Rocketdyne also makes solar-based power systems for the space station, engines for rockets that launch commercial and military satellites, and other aerospace devices. NASA pays Rocketdyne about $350 million annually for shuttle work.

The problems prompted Goldin last spring to dispatch a dozen engineers and quality experts on an extraordinary monthlong inspection of Rocketdyne and its shuttle work. Each scrubbed launch costs NASA from $600,000 to $1 million.