NASA Workmanship Standards Program

NASA Headquarters has Adopted IPC J-STD-001FS and Cancelled NASA-STD-8739.2 and .3

click here for more information

NASA Headquarters has Adopted IPC/WHMA-A-620B-S as an equivalent alternative standard to NASA-STD-8739.4

Click here for information and status on adoption of IPC/WHMA-A-620B-S

The NASA Workmanship Standards Program provides technical recommendations on Workmanship policy to the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) at NASA Headquarters. 

Workmanship is defined as the control of design features, materials and assembly processes to achieve the desired durability and reliability for subassembly interconnections, specifically those in printed wiring assemblies and cable harnesses, and the use of inspection techniques and criteria to assure interconnect quality. Workmanship promotes standardized designs and fabrication practices to enhance assembly durability and reliability and restricts the use of designs and manufacturing processes known to reduce those qualities.   

NASA policy on Workmanship is contained in NPD 8730.5, four NASA Workmanship Standards [NASA-STD-8739.1, .4, .5 and .6], and two industry voluntary consensus standards (VCS) [ANSI/ESD S20.20 and IPC J-STD-001ES].  (See left menu bar for link to these standards).

This website serves to provide access to the NASA Workmanship Standards, training information and other important Workmanship-related data.  As a publicly-available site, the contents here have been approved for public use.  NASA personnel and NASA contracts personnel, who have a need to access standards development and technology-related information, not yet approved for public access, should apply for access to the PBMA Workmanship Workgroup at https://nsckn.grc.nasa.gov/workmanship

NASA has created a NASA Workmanship Technical Committee (NWTC) (see link to names, emails, phone numbers on left menu bar).  The NWTC also evaluates the adequacy of Voluntary Consensus Standards (VCS's) per OMB Circular A-119 and provides advocacy when appropriate.  As a technical resource to the Agency, the NWTC may be called upon to generate manufacturing best practice guidance to assist NASA programs to manage risk and to ensure safety and mission success.