SPACECRAFT

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A craft capable of traveling in outer space; technically, a satellite around the sun

Synonyms:

ballistic capsule; space vehicle; spacecraft

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("spacecraft" is a kind of...):

craft (a vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space)

artificial satellite; orbiter; satellite (man-made equipment that orbits around the earth or the moon)

Meronyms (parts of "spacecraft"):

cabin (the enclosed compartment of an aircraft or spacecraft where passengers are carried)

heat shield (a protective covering that protects a spacecraft from overheating on reentry)

inertial guidance system; inertial navigation system (a system to control a plane or spacecraft; uses inertial forces)

module (detachable compartment of a spacecraft)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spacecraft"):

lander (a space vehicle that is designed to land on the moon or another planet)

LEM; lunar excursion module; lunar module (a spacecraft that carries astronauts from the command module to the surface of the moon and back)

capsule; space capsule (a spacecraft designed to transport people and support human life in outer space)

space shuttle (a reusable spacecraft with wings for a controlled descent through the Earth's atmosphere)

spaceship; starship (a spacecraft designed to carry a crew into interstellar space (especially in science fiction))

Credits

Context examples:

It also plans next year to launch a spacecraft headed to Mars.

(SpaceX Completes Successful Rocket Launch, VOA News)

“Any spacecraft that lands in regions of granular material on Titan is going to have a tough time staying clean. Think of putting a cat in a box of packing peanuts.”

('Electric Sands' Cover Titan, VOA News)

Compositional data from the New Horizons spacecraft, shown in the right inset, indicate that the plateau uplands south of Piri Rupes are rich in methane ice (shown in false color as purple).

(What’s Eating at Pluto?, NASA)

The final plunge will take place on the day side of Saturn, near local noon, with the spacecraft entering the atmosphere around 10 degrees north latitude.

(Cassini Spacecraft Makes Its Final Approach to Saturn, NASA)

The spacecraft, which has been flying for 40 years, relies on small devices called thrusters to orient itself so it can communicate with Earth.

(Voyager 1 Fires Up Thrusters After 37 Years, NASA)

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft detected evidence of widespread auroras in Mars's northern hemisphere.

(Auroras on Mars, NASA)

The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 365,000 miles (587,000 kilometers) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 9 degrees.

(Regarding Rhea, NASA)

The European Space Agency's (ESA) spacecraft will become the first to orbit a comet and land a probe on its nucleus.

(Rosetta closing in on comet, NASA)

After that, Buzz Aldrin departed the spacecraft and stepped on the moon 19 minutes later.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)