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ABBREVIATIONS
| AAAS | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| AAF | Army Air Forces |
| ABM | antiballistic missile |
| AFSWP | Armed Forces Special Weapons Project |
| ABMA | Army Ballistic Missile Agency |
| ACDA | Arms Control and Disarmament Agency |
| AEC | Atomic Energy Commission |
| AIS | American Interplanetary Society |
| ALSD | Apollo Lunar Surface Drill |
| AMF | American Machine and Foundry, Inc. |
| ARPA | Advanced Research Projects Agency |
| ARS | American Rocket Society |
| ATS | Applications Technology Satellite |
| ASAT | antisatellite |
| ADSID | Air-Delivered Seismic Intrusion Detector 7. |
| BIS | British Interplanetary Society |
| BoB | Bureau of Budget |
| BBS | Ban on Bombs in Space |
| BMD | ballistic missile defense |
| BMEWS | Ballistic Missile Early Warning System |
| CIA | Central Intelligence Agency |
| CIC | Counter Intelligence Corps |
| COPUOS | Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space |
| DDR&E | Director of Defense Research and Engineering |
| DEW | distant early warning |
| DISMs | delayed impact space missiles |
| DNA | Defense Nuclear Agency |
| DoD | Department of Defense |
| EMP | electromagnetic pulse |
| ENCD | Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament |
| FBI | Federal Bureau of Investigation |
| FOBS | Fractional Orbital Bombardment System |
| GALCIT | Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory (California Institute of Technology) |
| GCA | ground-controlled approach |
| GCD | general and complete disarmament |
| GOP | Grand Old (Republican) Party |
| GPALS | Global Protection Against Limited Strikes |
| GPS | Global Positioning System |
| HF | high frequency |
| ICBM | intercontinental ballistic missile |
| IGY | International Geophysical Year |
| IR | international relations |
| IRBM | intermediate-range ballistic missile |
| JATO | jet-assisted takeoff |
| JCS | Joint Chiefs of Staff |
| JPL | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| LM | Lunar Module |
| LTBT | Limited Test Ban Treaty |
| MAD | mutually assured destruction |
| MHV | miniature homing vehicle |
| MIRV | multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles |
| MIT | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| MOL | Manned Orbiting Laboratory |
| NABS | nuclear-armed bombardment satellites |
| NACA | National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics |
| NAS | National Academy of Sciences |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| NATO | North Atlantic Treaty Organization |
| NAVSTAR | Navigation Signal Timing and Ranging |
| NIE | National Intelligence Estimate |
| NPT | Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons |
| NRL | Naval Research Laboratory |
| NSC | National Security Council |
| NSF | National Science Foundation |
| NRO | National Reconnaissance Office |
| NSAM | National Security Action Memorandum |
| NSDD | National Security Decision Directive |
| OIMS | Society for the Study of Interplanetary Communications |
| OKB | Experimental Design Bureau |
| OST | Outer Space Treaty |
| PSAC | President's Scientific Advisory Committee |
| R&D | research and development |
| RAND | Research and Development Corporation |
| RBS | Random Barrage System |
| RFNA | red-fuming nitric acid |
| SAC | Strategic Air Command |
| SAINT | satellite interceptor |
| SALT | Strategic Arms Limitation Talks/Treaty |
| SDI | Strategic Defense Initiative |
| SDIO | Strategic Defense Initiative Organization |
| SLBM | submarine-launched ballistic missile |
| SPAD | satellite protection for area defense |
| SR | Systems Requirements |
| UAR | United Arab Republic |
| UN | United Nations |
| UNCLOS | United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea |
| UNESCO | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization |
| UNGA | United Nations General Assembly |
| USAF | United States Air Force |
| USBM | United States Bureau of Mines |
| USIA | United States Information Agency |
| USSF | United States Space Force |
| VfR | Verein fur Raumschiffahrt (Society for Space Travel) |
| VHF | very high frequency |
| WAC | without altitude control |
| WGER | Working Group on Extraterrestrial Resources |
| WMD | weapons of mass destruction |
| WPA | Works Progress Administration |