ABSTRACT: Standard Setting at NASA: An Interview with Paul Gill

Andrew Updegrove

8/29/2005
(Original Publish Date: 2005)

The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) maintains a diverse and extensive program of research, development, and testing that enables dramatic scientific, robotic and manned missions into earth orbit and beyond. These activities involve the use of over 3,400 standards derived from more than 50 standard setting organizations through a network of 11 major NASA Centers, and many additional supporting facilities. Until recently, each of these Centers was free to develop and adopt standards on a largely independent basis, most of which were government-unique. Over the past decade, NASA has increasingly transitioned from using government standards to using private sector standards, and the approval and management of standards within NASA has been placed under central authority. Today, NASA's use of standards is controlled by a unique Standards Management System that maximizes efficiency and safety, and coordinates efforts across the Agency. This article briefly reviews this transformation, and then reproduces an in-depth interview with Paul Gill, Manager of the NASA Technical Standards Program, who answers questions relating to all aspects of NASA's use of standards, and its participation in the international standard setting process.