The legacies of NASA and the space program are great: the Mars Rover, Tang, freeze-dried ice cream … and popularizing the abbreviation “A-OK.”
“OK” became a popular abbreviation in the 1840s thanks to the presidential campaign of Martin Van Buren, whose nickname was “Old Kinderhook.” “OK” was used on campaign posters as shorthand, and it evolved into a synonym for “good.” The first printed appearance of “A-OK” seems to be in a 1952 advertisement for Midvac Steels, though its meaning at the time wasn’t explicitly clear. The ad promoted durable steel products that could withstand the intensity of any launch: “A-OK FOR TOMORROW’S MISSILE DEMANDS.” The appearance in an ad implies that “A-OK” may have been commonplace in either general slang or perhaps the rocketry field as early as the 1950s, though we can’t know for sure. What we do know, however, is that “A-OK” became widely popular in the 1960s thanks to one particular NASA employee.
John “Shorty” Powers worked at NASA during Project Mercury from 1959 to 1963 as the “voice of the astronauts,” often communicating important mission details to the press. During a press briefing after the first U.S. suborbital space flight on May 5, 1961, Powers used the term “A-OK” when he told the press astronaut Alan Shepard said it upon return to Earth, perhaps as a way to suggest “all is OK.” However, mission transcripts revealed Shepard never said it, so Powers was mistaken about the “A-OK” quote.
It’s not some secret NASA cover-up plot. In the book The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, the author suggests that Powers borrowed the phrase from NASA engineers, who regularly used it during radio transmission tests. Given the high amount of static during radio transmissions, engineers found that “A” produced a sharper and clearer sound than “O.” So while “OK” could have easily gotten lost amid the loud static, saying “A-OK” ensured additional clarity.
Even though it may be hard to pinpoint exactly when “A-OK” or any spelling variation was first coined, we can thank NASA for popularizing the term.
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