space shuttle

A reusable spacecraft with wings for controlled descent in the atmosphere, designed to transport astronauts between Earth and an orbiting space station and also used to deploy and retrieve satellites.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

space shuttle

(Astronautics) any of a series of reusable US space vehicles (Columbia (exploded 2003), Challenger (exploded 1986), Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavour) that can be launched into earth orbit transporting astronauts and equipment for a period of observation, research, etc, before re-entry and an unpowered landing on a runway. The first operational flight took place in 1981 and it was taken out of service in 2011

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

space′ shut`tle

(often caps.)

a reusable spacecraft, or orbiter, with two solid rocket boosters and an external fuel tank that are jettisoned after takeoff.

[1965–70, Amer.]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

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

ballistic capsule, space vehicle, spacecraft - a craft capable of traveling in outer space; technically, a satellite around the sun

Translations

совалка

avaruussukkula

ûrrepülõgépűrrepülőgépûrsiklóűrsikló

geimflaug

космический челнок спейс шаттл шаттл

vesoljski čolniček

space shuttle

n → shuttle m inv

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Unlike the Space Shuttle, the Dream Chaser's rudimentary wings are tilted upward at an angle.

NASA's Dream Chaser will 'land and take off like a regular plane'

The Olympic torch has flown into space before, in 1996 aboard the US space shuttle Atlantis ahead of the Atlanta summer Games but has never been taken outside a spacecraft, the report added.

Olympic torch to go on spacewalk for first time as part of Sochi 2014 relay

Because its program overlapped the end of the space shuttle program, and because it doesn't carry any astronauts, the news media haven't paid much attention to the X-37B.

Back into space

The prototype space shuttle rode a barge from Jersey City, New Jersey, to the Intrepid, where it was being hoisted by crane on to the flight deck.

Enterprise welcomed to new home

The space shuttle took a scenic route over downtown Washington en route to its final destination, passing near the White House, Washington Monument and Smithsonian Institution, to the delight of thousands of spectators.

Space Shuttle Discovery takes final flight across downtown Washington

Pat Duggins, National Public Radio's resident space expert since 1996, does yeoman's work in chronicling the story of the space shuttle. Well suited to write this book, he has covered a multitude of shuttle missions, two of its tragedies, and the twists and turns of the spacecraft's career from inception to scheduled retirement.

Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program

In 1983, my class was ushered into the Kilmacolm Primary playground by a Space Shuttle - The Final Mission, BBC2, Sunday teacher who saw the value in showing six-year-olds a NASA space ship flying low over his school.

SHUTTLE TRIBUTE A REAL BLAST

END OF AN ERA Space Shuttle Atlantis lands at the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral yesterday.

NASA'S 30-YEAR SHUTTLE JOURNEY COMES TO AN END