Yara Toaimah

“Just before the meeting started, he leans over and says, “Co-pilot to pilot: comb your hair.” I say, “Pilot to co-pilot: can I borrow your comb?” The first thing we had to learn was the crazy acronyms that NASA uses all over the place: “SRMs” are the solid rocket motors, which make up most of the “SRBs,” the solid rocket boosters. The “SSMEs” are the space shuttle main engines; they burn “LH” (liquid hydrogen) and “LOX” (liquid oxygen), which are stored in the “ET,” the external tank. Everything’s got letters. And not just the big things: practically every valve has an acronym, so they said, “We’ll give you a dictionary for the acronyms—it’s really very simple.” Simple, sure, but the dictionary is a great, big, fat book that you’ve gotta keep looking through for things like “HPFTP” (high-pressure fuel turbopump) and “HPOTP” (high-pressure oxygen turbopump).”
― Richard P. Feynman, What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character