Meanings
nonstandard plural spacecrafts
- space flightA vehicle that travels through space.
The object appeared after a series of routine prelanding procedures in which the crew tested the steering jets, a test that often shakes loose objects from the spacecraft.
2008 June 14, John Schwartz, “No Problems Seen for Shuttle Landing”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 20222 more examples
Today, Velcro is used for everything from keeping astronauts from floating off the floor of their spacecrafts to keeping artificial hearts in place, as well as the more mundane tasks of fastening clothing.
1990 February 12, Reuters, “Georges de Mestral, 82, Inventor Who Developed Velcro in”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 13 Dec 2022For the autocompatibility test, completed with Redwire partner Airbus Defense and Space, both spacecraft were stacked together, just like they will be for launch and the first month of the mission.
2024 March 5, “Proba-3 Testing Milestones Completed at Redwire’s Facility Ahead of 2024 Launch”, in Redwire Space, archived from the original on 18 Mar 2025Synonyms: spaceship, space vehicle, space vessel
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA vehicle that travels through space.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna craft capable of traveling in outer space; technically, a satellite around the sun
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinspatium
- Old Frenchespace
- Anglo-Normanspace
- Middle Englishspace
- Englishspace
- Proto-Germanic*krafjaną
- Proto-Germanic*kraftuz
- Proto-West Germanic*kraftu
- Old Englishcræft
- Middle Englishcraft
- Englishcraft
- Englishspacecraft
Translations
Arabic مَرْكَبَةٌ فَضَائِيَّة
- مَرْكَبَةٌ فَضَائِيَّة (markabatun faḍāʔiyya)vehicle that travels through space
Basque espazio-ontzi
- espazio-ontzivehicle that travels through space
Bulgarian косми́чески ко́раб
- косми́чески ко́раб (kosmíčeski kórab)vehicle that travels through space
Chinese Mandarin 航天器
- 航天器 (hángtiānqì)vehicle that travels through space
Czech kosmická loď
- kosmická loďvehicle that travels through space
Danish rumfartøj
- rumfartøjvehicle that travels through space
French astronef, spationef
- astronefvehicle that travels through space
- spationefvehicle that travels through space
- véhicule spatialvehicle that travels through space
German Raumfahrzeug, Weltraumfahrzeug
- Raumfahrzeugvehicle that travels through space
- Weltraumfahrzeugvehicle that travels through space
- Weltraumflugkörpervehicle that travels through space
Greek διαστημόπλοιο
- διαστημόπλοιο (diastimóploio)vehicle that travels through space
Hebrew חֲלָלִית
- חֲלָלִית (khalalít)vehicle that travels through space
Hindi अंतरिक्ष यान
- अंतरिक्ष यान (antrikṣ yān)vehicle that travels through space
Indonesian pesawat luar angkasa, wahana antariksa
- pesawat luar angkasavehicle that travels through space
- wahana antariksavehicle that travels through space
- wantariksavehicle that travels through space
Italian spazionave
- spazionavevehicle that travels through space
Japanese 宇宙機, 宇宙船
- 宇宙機 (uchūki)vehicle that travels through space
- 宇宙船 (uchūsen)vehicle that travels through space
Korean 우주기, 우주선
- 우주기 (ujugi)vehicle that travels through space
- 우주선 (ujuseon)vehicle that travels through space
Māori waka tuarangi, waka ātea
- waka tuarangivehicle that travels through space
- waka āteavehicle that travels through space
Norwegian Bokmål romfartøy
- romfartøyvehicle that travels through space
Polish statek kosmiczny
- statek kosmicznyvehicle that travels through space
Russian косми́ческий аппара́т
- косми́ческий аппара́т (kosmíčeskij apparát)vehicle that travels through space
Slovak kozmická loď
- kozmická loďvehicle that travels through space
Spanish nave espacial
- nave espacialvehicle that travels through space
Swedish rymdfarkost
- rymdfarkostvehicle that travels through space
Thai ยานอวกาศ
- ยานอวกาศ (yaan-à-wá-gàat)vehicle that travels through space
Turkish uzay aracı
- uzay aracıvehicle that travels through space
Ukrainian космі́чний апара́т
- космі́чний апара́т (kosmíčnyj aparát)vehicle that travels through space
Cite this entry
spacecraft. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spacecraft
“spacecraft.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spacecraft. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spacecraft,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spacecraft.
Source: spacecraft on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.