NASA Project Mercury: Program System Standards

A standard can be defined as a model or a set of criteria established by authority and/or general consent. The imposition of, or agreement upon, standards implies uniformity of results. The size and complexity of the Project Mercury Program System necessitated an immediate provision of standards.

Standards do not operate in a vacuum; they are applied, in the present instance, to a system--the Mercury Program System. The program system evolved from organized knowledge in existence at the beginning of the project--of primary interest was the SHARE Operating System (SOS). A programmer’s primer to SOS is presented in this volume since a knowledge of this system is necessary to appreciate the application of its standards to Project Mercury. (A detailed description of SOS, modified for Project Mercury, is presented in volume MC-107; External System Programs.)