NASA's Office of Safety and Mission Assurance has signed an agreement with the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) for each organization to participate in the engineering investigations and technical analyses of the other.

NASA's Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance Bryan O'Connor signed the agreement Tuesday at NASA Headquarters in Washington. His counterpart, Gregg Hagedorn, NAVSEA's Executive Director for Ship Design, Integration & Engineering, signed for the Navy.

Gregg Hagedorn, NAVSEA's Executive Director for Ship Design, Integration & Engineering (left) and Bryan O'Connor, NASA's Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance, sign an agreement for each organization to participate in the engineering investigations and project analyses of the other. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

"This is another step in making our agency stronger by listening to others," O'Connor said.

This is the second memorandum of agreement between NASA and NAVSEA. It is the latest in a series of exchanges between NASA and other organizations that manage high-risk operations. The previous agreement between NASA and NAVSEA enables the two organizations to share information regarding critical supplier quality and performance.