Sorry, I misspoke. I understand what a nautical mile is. What I don’t understand is why ULA describes both downrange distances and altitude in nautical miles when covering rocket launches.

Kilometers are great. Used in sciencey stuff in the US and for everything in the rest of the world. Or miles / feet, which the primary audience in the US is familiar with. But nautical miles? Most people never interact with them. Not good for science and engineering communication with the general public.