SPACECRAFT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does spacecraft mean? 

• SPACECRAFT (noun)
  The noun SPACECRAFT has 1 sense:

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

  Familiarity information: SPACECRAFT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPACECRAFT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

ballistic capsule; space vehicle; spacecraft

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))

 Context examples 

Once they are firing at full capacity, the thrusters can do no more to keep Cassini stably pointed, and the spacecraft will begin to tumble.

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

Two other dark storms were discovered by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989 as it flew by the remote planet.

(Hubble Reveals Dynamic Atmospheres of Uranus, Neptune, NASA)

I asked what time the men landed, and he said 20:17 UTC, but the men stayed inside the spacecraft for 6 hours and 39 minutes.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

A set of thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft successfully fired up Wednesday after 37 years without use.

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

Khawaja's team used data from the spacecraft's Cosmic Dust Analyzer, or CDA, which detected ice grains emitted from Enceladus into Saturn's E ring.

(New Organic Compounds Found in Enceladus Ice Grains, NASA)

Images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft have revealed a dark, heavily cratered world whose brightest area is made of highly reflective salts — not ice.

(Where is the Ice on Ceres?, NASA)

Its location in the sky (as seen from Earth) places it near the Sun - an area of sky not usually scanned by the large ground-based asteroid surveys or NASA's asteroid-hunting NEOWISE spacecraft.

(Newly Discovered Comet Is Likely Interstellar Visitor, NASA)

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 3, 2016 using a spectral filter which preferentially admits wavelengths of ultraviolet light centered at 338 nanometers.

(Regarding Rhea, NASA)

This isn't the first time a spacecraft has detected auroras on Mars.

(Auroras on Mars, NASA)

Rosetta also will be the first spacecraft to witness at close proximity how a comet changes as it is subjected to the increasing intensity of the sun's radiation.

(Rosetta closing in on comet, NASA)