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    The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) assures the safety and enhances the success of all NASA activities. Take a look around our website to learn what's happening in NASA's Safety and Mission Assurance community, including updates on disciplines, programs, policies and personnel.

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What's Happening in the SMA Community?

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Updates to NASA-STD-8739.6

June 19, 2017 Policies and Requirements, Quality

The NASA Workmanship Standards Program coordinated an administrative change to NASA-STD-8739.6A, Implementation Requirements for NASA Workmanship Standards. The primary reason for the change is to formally adopt IPC/WHMA-A-620B-S, Space Applications Electronic Hardware Addendum to IPC/WHMA-A-620B as an equivalent, alternative standard to NASA-STD-8739.4, Workmanship Standard for Crimping, Interconnecting Cables, Harnesses, and Wiring.  

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Richard Barney

SMA Leadership Profile: Richard Barney

June 13, 2017 Personnel

Typically, employees look to their leaders for guidance, but Goddard Space Flight Center’s Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) Director Richard Barney wants his employees to know he’s looking at those around him for inspiration.

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circuit board

Reliability Assessment Using Physics-of-Failure Principles, Modeling and Simulation

May 22, 2017 Reliability and Maintainability, Science and Technology

One of the most important aspects of Reliability and Maintainability is understanding how things fail. Engineers can only make systems reliable if they understand what makes them unreliable.

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Safety Message: Oribtal Debris

May Issue of ODQN Now Available

May 11, 2017 MMOD, Publications

The May issue of Orbital Debris Quarterly News (ODQN) includes articles on policy updates, personnel, project details and more. 

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NASA Safety Reporting

NASA Safety Reporting

Learn more about reporting safety concerns at NASA.
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Featured Safety Message


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Skin Cancer Prevention and Screening

A Life Saving Survey

June 05, 2017

Each year in the U.S., over 5.4 million cases of non-melanoma skin cancer are treated in more than 3.3 million people. There are more new cases of skin cancer than breast, prostate, lung and colon cancer combined. One in five Americans will develop skin cancer over the course of a lifetime. Melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer, can develop from less dangerous types of skin cancer.

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Office of Safety and Mission Assurance

What We Do

The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) assures the safety and enhances the success of all NASA activities through the development, implementation and oversight of agency-wide safety, reliability, maintainability and quality assurance policies and procedures. OSMA includes the Mission Support Division, Safety and Assurance Requirements Division, and NASA Safety Center, as well as the Independent Verification and Validation Facility.

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Policy Status Updates

Recently Published

Policy Title Status  
NPR 8715.6B Procedural Requirements for Limiting Orbital Debris Feb. 16, 2017 See NPR 8715.6B
NPR 8705.6C Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) Audits, Reviews, and Assessments Jan. 9, 2017 See NPR 8705.6C
NPD 8730.5B Quality Assurance Program Policy Oct. 31, 2016 See NPD 8730.5B
» More Policy Updates

Currently in Review

Policy Title  
NASA-STD-8729.1 NASA Requirements for Ground-Based Pressure Vessels and Pressurized Systems (PVS) See NASA-STD-8729.1
NPR 8705.2 Human Rating Requirements for Space Systems See NPR 8705.2
NPR 8715.3 NASA General Safety Program Requirements (Chapters 4, 5 and 8 only) See NPR 8715.3
» More Policy Updates

Upcoming Reviews

Policy Title  
NPD 8700.1E NASA Policy for Safety and Mission Success See NPD 8700.1E
NPD 8720.1 NASA Reliability and Maintainability (R&M) Program Policy See NPD 8720.1
NPD 8730.1 Metrology and Calibration See NPD 8730.1
» More Policy Updates