spacecraft
Americannoun
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spacecraft
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of spacecraft
Explanation
A spacecraft is a vehicle designed to travel beyond Earth's atmosphere. In 1969, the Apollo 11 lunar module was the first crewed spacecraft to land on the Moon. Rockets, space shuttles, satellites, and the International Space Station are all examples of spacecraft. Any machine, device, or vehicle that's designed to travel in outer space falls into this category, whether or not it carries humans. Spacecraft is a more scientific term than spaceship — but both words were originally used in 19th- and 20th-century science fiction.
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.
Hench pointed to two newer business lines as having excellent prospects for long-term growth — cryogenic tanks used in spacecraft and equipment used in the nuclear-power generation.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
A museum plaque has been unveiled in honour of the scientist who developed the Beagle 2 probe - the first British and European spacecraft to land on another planet.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
At that moment, the spacecraft passed just 8640 km above the Indian Ocean while taking a sequence of images with its onboard monitoring cameras.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2026
The maneuver subjected the airframe to an estimated 3 Gs of force, akin to what a spacecraft experiences during launch, and exceeded the 737 MAX’s operating limit of 2.5 Gs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
It was a suborbital lob shot, and though the spacecraft was empty, the newspapers said it was the opening round of America’s program to put men into space.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
