A-okay explained

A-okay or A-OK is a more intensive word form of the English term OK. The phrase can be accompanied by, or substituted with, the OK sign.

History

The phrase "" had been in use at least as far back as 1952, when it appeared in an advertisement by Midvac Steels which read "A-OK for tomorrow's missile demands".^[1]

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. John "Shorty" Powers popularized it while serving in the 1960s as NASA's public affairs officer for Project Mercury, the "voice of Mercury Control". He was reported as attributing the expression to astronaut Alan Shepard during his historic Freedom 7 flight, which was the United States' first crewed space flight.^[2] In his book The Right Stuff, author Tom Wolfe wrote that Powers had borrowed the expression from NASA engineers who used it during radio transmission tests because "the sharper sound of A cut through the static better than O".^[3]

The NASA publication, This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury, says in a footnote that "A replay of the flight voice communications tape disclosed that Shepard himself did not use the term" and that "Tecwyn Roberts of STG and Capt. Henry E. Clements of the Air Force had used 'A.OK' frequently in reports written more than four months before the Shepard flight."^{[4] [5]}

Notes and References

1. "The Golden Age of Advertising - the 50s", p. 57, Ed. Jim Heimann, Taschen 2005.
2. Calm Voice from Space . https://archive.today/20130204100409/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,939891,00.html . dead . February 4, 2013 . Time . April 3, 2011 . March 2, 1962 . Time Inc. . subscription .
3. Book: Tom Wolfe

   . Wolfe . Tom . Tom Wolfe . The Right Stuff . 1988 . Bantam Books . Toronto . 9780553275568 . 227 . 17th print . June 28, 2015 . Google Books.

4. Web site: Swenson. Loyd S. Jr. . Grimwood. James M. . Alexander. Charles C. . This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury, Chap. 10: 'Ham Paves the Way' . Footnote 37 . NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) . June 22, 2015 . 1989 . In reporting the Freedom 7 flight, the press attributed the term to Astronaut Shepard, ... A replay of the flight voice communications tape disclosed that Shepard himself did not use the term. . It was Col. John A. "Shorty" Powers ... Tecwyn Roberts of STG and Capt. Henry E. Clements of the Air Force had used "A.OK" frequently in reports written more than four months before the Shepard flight. ... Other sources claim that oldtime railroad telegraphers used "A-OK" as one of several terms to report the status of their equipment. Be that as it may, Powers, "the voice of Mercury Control," by his public use of "A.OK," made those three letters a universal symbol meaning "in perfect working order.".
5. Web site: Ten Enduring Myths About the U.S. Space Program: 5. "Alan Shepard is A-Okay" . Strauss. Mark . April 15, 2011 . . . September 8, 2011 . 3.