parking orbit

nounAerospace.

a temporary orbit in which a spacecraft awaits the next phase of its mission.

Origin of parking orbit

First recorded in 1955–60

Words Nearby parking orbit

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use parking orbit in a sentence

By the time I was able to capture enough breath to make coherent sounds, the shuttler was already approaching parking orbit.
Attrition | Jim Wannamaker
The starship took up a parking orbit around the capital planet of Acquataine Cluster.
The Dueling Machine | Benjamin William Bova

British Dictionary definitions for parking orbit

parking orbit

noun

an orbit around the earth or moon in which a spacecraft can be placed temporarily in order to prepare for the next step in its programme

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

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