Recently, a new course, “Expendable Launch Vehicle Payload Safety Requirements” (SMA-HQ-WBT-206), was released to the agency in SATERN. The course focuses on NASA-STD-8719.24, NASA Expendable Launch Vehicle Payload Safety Requirements.

NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office is acquiring a Titan Transtage from the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group , commonly known as “The Boneyard,” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, to conduct spectrographic inspections to better understand these historic spacecraft.

Changes to NPR 8621.1, Mishap and Close Call Reporting, Investigating, and Recordkeeping went into effect on May 19, 2016. These updates affect NASA’s process for endorsing and releasing mishap reports following incidents.

The 2016 Quality Leadership Forum, sponsored by NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, took place in March in Cape Canaveral, Florida. One hundred and forty five attendees from NASA and other government agencies, as well as suppliers and distributors, discussed a wide range of topics that provided insight into Quality lessons learned, risks, best practices and updates to industry standards.

The issue of Orbital Debris Quarterly News covering January through April 2016 is now available. 

On Feb. 17-18, Goddard Space Flight Center hosted its second Model-Based Engineering (MBE) workshop, which included an overview of MBE’s mission assurance counterpart, Model-Based Mission Assurance.

Attendees of the Range Commanders Council’s 117th Range Safety Group Technical Interchange Meeting last November discussed the growing relevancy of autonomous flight systems in the Range Flight Safety community, as well as related policy changes needed to accommodate the new interest. In addition, they discussed resource protection, a launch vehicle failure, and upcoming policy and risk criteria changes related to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The meeting was hosted by the Missile Defense Agency at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, and attended by representatives from government agencies and industries with ties to and interest in the U.S. National Test Ranges.

On Feb. 11, Deputy Chief Safety and Mission Assurance Officer Emeritus for the Commercial Crew Program Paul Kirkpatrick received a NASA Yes-If challenge coin for exemplary leadership over his 44-year career as a safety professional.

Updates to NASA-HDBK-8739.23, Complex Electronics Handbook for Assurance Professionals, went into effect on Feb. 2, 2016. These changes brought the assurance handbook into alignment with NASA-HDBK-4008, Programmable Logic Devices (PLD) Handbook. 

An updated and revised NASA Safety Reporting System (NSRS) course is now available on SATERN.