A Dictionary of the Space Age

Abstract

The launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 ushered in an exciting era of scientific and technological advancement. As television news anchors, radio hosts, and journalists reported happenings of American and Soviet space programs to millions of captivated citizens, words that belonged to worlds of science, aviation, and science fiction suddenly became part of colloquial language. What's more, NASA used a litany of acronyms in much of its official correspondence in an effort to transmit as much information in as little time as possible. To translate this peculiar vocabulary, Paul Dickson has compiled curious lingo and mystifying acronyms of NASA in an accessible dictionary of names, words, and phrases of Space Age. Aviators, fighter pilots, and test pilots coined phrases spam in a can (how astronauts felt prelaunch as they sat in a tiny capsule atop a rocket booster); tickety-boo (things are fine), and the Eagle has (Neil Armstrong's famous quote when Apollo 11 landed on Moon). This dictionary captures a broader foundation for language of Space Age based on historic principles employed by Oxford English Dictionary and Webster's New Third International Dictionary. Word histories for major terms are detailed in a conversational tone, and technical terms are deciphered for interested student and lay reader. This is a must-own reference for space history buffs.