The Florida space agency is suing a West Palm Beach high-speed aircraft aerodynamics testing company after a 2020 accident caused more than $500,000 in damage to a transformer at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center’s former shuttle landing strip, according to a lawsuit.
Florida Space Agency officials said in a statement that an unexpected bird strike caused the crash and that the test vehicle left the north end of the runway at low speed. The vehicle struck a NASA-owned transformer, causing $561,595 in repair and restoration losses. No injuries were reported.
Space Florida paid for repairs to the transformers and related infrastructure. The agency manages KSC’s launch and landing facilities under a 30-year agreement with NASA. The 2.8-mile track is one of the longest in the world and hosted 218 ground tests last year for entities such as Tesla, Volvo and the Florida Highway Patrol.
A 15,000-foot-long launch and landing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. This Florida space archive photo does not show Amazon’s $140 million Project Kuiper satellite processing complex.
Shuttle belt: Driverless Maserati supercar breaks autonomous speed record at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
According to the lawsuit, Johnny Böhmer Proving Grounds, LLC had contracted with Space Florida to conduct linear vehicle testing at LLF, and the 2020 accident occurred during the company’s test operations. Space Florida’s lawsuit says the company is responsible for property damage.
According to the lawsuit, the defendants made two restitution payments totaling $262,000 to Space Florida, but left a balance of $299,593 unpaid.
Space Florida officials filed the lawsuit in Orange County Circuit Court on Nov. 25, claiming breach of contract and negligence. As of Thursday, December 4, the company had not filed a legal response to the lawsuit.
A message seeking comment for this article was left at Johnny Boehmer Proving Grounds. A nonjury trial is scheduled for May 17 at the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando.
“While the initial insurance payment was based on an early cost estimate, that estimate was further revised to a more accurate cost of repairs,” a statement from Space Florida said. “Despite multiple attempts to settle the remaining amount, and despite Space Florida providing the required additional documentation, the contractor and its insurance company refused to reimburse the full cost of the damage.”
“Florida Space takes seriously its responsibility to protect state and federal assets, so all necessary repairs were completed at Florida Space’s expense,” the statement said. “After multiple attempts to resolve this issue, Florida Space is seeking to recover the total verified amount to ensure taxpayer dollars are not burdened with repair costs and that liability is maintained through proper management of state and federal assets.”
During NASA’s space shuttle era, 78 of 135 missions landed on the LLF, with Atlantis landing for the final time on July 21, 2011.
In March this year, a Maserati MC20 supercar without a human driver accelerated to 197.7 mph on LLF, breaking the autonomous driving speed record.
According to Space Florida, the 15,000-foot-long runway has an elevation change of less than 1 percent from one end to the other, making it the flattest runway in the world — completely following the curvature of the Earth.
For the latest news from Space Force Station Cape Canaveral and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space. Another easy way: Click here to subscribe to our weekly space newsletter.
Rick Neal is the space reporter for Florida Today. Contact Neil: Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @rickneal1
Space is important to us, which is why we’re committed to bringing you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Please support it by subscribing here.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: NASA Kennedy Space Center crash caused $562,000 in damages, lawsuit claims
