This dictionary was used by Independent Television News (ITN) Science Editor Frank Miles during ITN’s coverage of the early NASA Space Shuttle missions. The contents define the many acronyms and abbreviations used by NASA in its space programmes. It enabled accurate and enthusiastic coverage of the US space missions, this all helping in the promotion of the space programmes in the public eye.

Miles was an innovative television editor who championed a new text-based information stream visible at the bottom of the television screen and inspired by the ‘split-flap’ indicator boards used in airports and railway station concourses.