orbiter

American

[awr-bi-ter] / ˈɔr bɪ tər /

noun

U.S. Aerospace.

Also called space shuttle orbiter. the crew- and payload-carrying component of the space shuttle.
a space probe designed to orbit a planetary body or moon.

orbiter British

/ ˈɔːbɪtə /

noun

a spacecraft or satellite designed to orbit a planet or other body without landing on it Compare lander

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of orbiter

An Americanism dating back to 1950–55; orbit + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

orbiter

You may remember the orbiter itself or the 154-foot orange fuel tank parading slowly through L.A.’s streets to reach their new home, in 2012 and 2016, respectively.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

The orbiter circles the Moon from pole to pole once every two hours as the Moon slowly rotates beneath it.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026

South Korea's Danuri orbiter had the best chance, having passed near the crash site shortly beforehand.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

Discovery is known for flying more miles in space than any other shuttle orbiter, carrying the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit and making an early rendezvous with Russia’s Mir space station.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026

The Viking orbiter pictures improved this figure only slightly.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023