Boeing (BA) Accused of Stealing Tech for Bolts on Rockets, Jets, Space Station

Workers assemble a Boeing 787 Dreamliner airplane in Everett, Washington in 2013.

Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

Loren Grush

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A small aerospace equipment maker accused Boeing Co. of stealing technology for proprietary tools used to install engines on NASA's new moon rocket, bolts on Dreamliner jets and fasteners on the International Space Station that don't leak.

Wilson Aerospace, based in Fort Collins, Colorado, was Boeing's partner on several projects over the past decade, including for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, according to a federal lawsuit late Tuesday in Washington state.