Washington ? A criminal investigation into whether Boeing Co. used stolen Lockheed Martin Corp. documents to win an Air Force contract has grown to include an examination of NASA contract competitions, sources close to the inquiry said Tuesday.

Matthew Jew, a former Boeing employee who quit April 1, has told investigators under a grant of immunity that Lockheed data were used in several Air Force and NASA competitions, according to a government source who declined to be named because of the sensitive nature of the investigation. Also, Boeing contends that it fired one of Jew’s co-workers, Richard Hora, because he possessed proprietary Lockheed documents.

The investigation by the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles began last year after Boeing said several employees had thousands of pages of Lockheed documents related to a rocket launch competition. Two former Boeing employees have been indicted in that case, and the Air Force penalized the company $1 billion.

The new investigation was reported Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal.

The news comes as Chicago-based Boeing struggles to regain the Pentagon’s confidence. Boeing’s space business is suspended from competing for new contracts as a result of the rocket-launch case, and last week, in an unrelated case, a former senior executive pleaded guilty to conspiracy for accepting a job with the company while still working for the Air Force and negotiating a major contract with Boeing. The ethical breaches helped prompt the resignation of Boeing Chief Executive Philip Condit.

The new revelations could also boost a Lockheed lawsuit against Boeing related to the original Air Force rocket launch competition.

An Air Force spokeswoman, Angela Billings, declined comment on the investigation but said a suspension of Boeing’s space business would remain until the “the Air Force is confident Boeing is performing responsibly, and procedures have been put in place to ensure they continue to do so in the future.”