| Acronym | Meaning |
| OSSA | Office Of Space Science And Applications |
| CIS | Commonwealth Of Independent States |
| SST | Spectroscopic Survey Telescope / SuperSonic Transport |
| SIXA | Silicon X-ray Array |
| MFV | Main Fuel Valve |
| JAEL | JSC Avionics Engineering Laboratory |
| ESO | European Southern Observatory |
| ERS | Earth Resources Satellite |
| M | Messier |
| LANL | Los Alamos National Laboratory |