Organization as Innovation: China’s Human Spaceflight Program’s Efforts to Instill a Quality Management System

Space industries confront unique challenges in successfully bringing programs to conclusion, primarily due to the harsh environments in which spacecraft operate and the technologies needed to send them into orbit. Developers of successful space systems place great emphasis on reliable technologies, exacting manufacturing processes, and strict and documentable quality assurance measures. China’s greatest accomplishments in creating its human spaceflight program may not be the development of new technologies. As China increasingly relies on domestically-sourced components and systems to manufacture spacecraft, the internal processes it has developed may be a more reliable indicator of its ability to sustain a successful space program than technological advances. These processes may have a more lasting effect on the space industry’s ability to innovate than the role of technology itself.