The space business is filled with an assortment of abbreviations, terms, and acronyms that can leave the casual space fan a bit stumped as what I’m referring to. Worry not though, here is a handy guide to make sense of it all. So far I’ve added some of the more commonly used lingo, but if you have any further questions you can leave comments below. I promise I’ll get back to you ASAP.

NGC – New General Catalogue. Well-known catalogue of deep sky objects in astronomy.

NEO – Near-Earth object. Near earth object is pretty self-explanatory, it refers to objects that pass close by to our planet. Asteroids, comets, meteoroids, but also manned made spacecraft with a perihelion distance q less than 1.3 astronomical units. 1 AU is about 149,597,871 kilometers (92,955,807 miles).

LEO – Low Earth Orbit. The generally accepted definition of low earth orbit is about 160 – 2,000 km (100 – 1,240 miles) above the earth. To put that in perspective, STS-82, the second Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission saw the space shuttle Discovery fly 385 miles (335 nautical miles) above the earth. This is the highest any of the five space shuttles has ever orbited our planet.

Another example is the International Space Station, which sits at an even lower orbit. Never exceeding 200 plus miles above the earth, I don’t give an exact distance because it does tend to fluctuate. Previous space stations Mir, Skylab were also never above 200 plus miles.

GEO – Geostationary orbit. Quoting from Wikipedia on this one, “An orbit directly above the Earth’s equator (0° latitude), with a period equal to the Earth’s rotational period and an orbital eccentricity of approximately zero. These characteristics are required so that, from locations on the surface of the Earth, geostationary objects appear motionless in the sky, making the GEO an orbit of great interest to operators of communications and weather satellites. Due to the constant 0° latitude and circularity of geostationary orbits, satellites in GEO differ in location by longitude only.”

EVA – Extravehicular Activity. This one should be simple enough, an EVA being preformed when you exit the spacecraft to either take a walk in space or go strolling along on the moon. Wearing of course a spacesuit to sustain yourself. It can be a little more technical than this as for example the Russians and Americans both define an EVA differently. Still, it’s the same general idea.

Launch Vehicle – Any vehicle that launches a payload into what we know as “space“.

LC/SLC – Space/Launch Complex. You may see the LC or SLC abbreviation most often as tags under each post, often attached to a number. LC-39 for example. Which just means Launch Complex 39. Its the same for SLC, the only difference being the word space before launch complex.

MECO – Main Engine Cut Off. Nothing too complex about this one, MECO is when the main engines that provide the oomph to get the spacecraft to orbit, cutoff due to no longer being needed during flight.

SRB – Solid Rocket Booster. These are booster rockets that provide extra thrust in support of the main engine of the launch vehicle, the largest in production being those used by NASA’s space shuttle.

ET – External Tank. Again from Wikipedia, “component of the Space Shuttle launch vehicle that contains the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. During lift-off and ascent it supplies the fuel and oxidizer under pressure to the three space shuttle main engines (SSME) in the orbiter.”

SCA – Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The shuttle carrier Aircraft is one of two NASA 747 aircraft that have been specially customized to carry the space shuttle orbiter.

Spacecraft

HTV – H-II Transfer Vehicle. Unmanned JAXA resupply spacecraft that brings its cargo to ISS.

MRO – Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA Mars orbiter that has currently collected more data than all deep space missions combined, and also has an 0.5 meter reflecting telescope on board, the largest of any deep space mission.

STS – Space Transportation System. STS refers to the entire space shuttle program, and this is why you see STS before a mission number.

ISS – International Space Station. With assembly beginning in 1998, this internationally developed research facility is a joint project between five space agencies. The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Scientific Instruments
ALI – Advanced Land Imager
LROC – Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera
MODIS – Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrophotometer
MERIS – Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer
OMI – Ozone Monitoring Instrument
TRMM – The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
ACIS – Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer

NASA Facilities & Buildings
GSFC – Goddard Space Flight Center
KSC – Kennedy Space Center
MSFC – Marshall Space Flight Center
VAB – Vehicle Assembly Building

Other Launch Facilities

Gagarin’s Start – Launch site of the first person in space, Yuri Gagarin. Located at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan the site is now used by the Russian Space Agency.

CCAFS – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Cape Canaveral is often mixed up with the Kennedy Space Center, not only because of their proximity together but the history of manned spaceflight in the United States.

After all the early manned US missions were launched from Cape Canaveral (Mercury, Gemini), in fact the first manned launch from Kennedy Space Center and thus Launch Complex 39 wasn’t until Apollo 8 in 1968.