The decay of NASA's technical culture

The ability of the US government to carry out future space policies depends upon the maintenance of a technically capable space flight agency. During its first decade of operation the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) developed an organizational culture supporting very high levels of reliability. This ‘technical culture’ stressed the importance of in-house technical capability, ‘hands on’ activity and extensive testing. Forces at work on the agency since 1970 have tended to erode the original culture. This article explains the ways in which the beliefs and norms guiding NASA operations have changed since the agency's first decade of operations.