shuttlecraft n.

= shuttle n.

Now associated chiefly with Star Trek.

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  • 1953 D. F. Galouye Fist of Shiva in Imagination Science Fiction May 25/1 page image Daniel F. Galouye bibliography

    Within a month I don’t want a single shuttle craft hopping between here and the Space Station.

  • 1954 M. Shaara Sling & the Stone in Imagination Science Fiction Mar. 132/2 page image Michael Shaara bibliography

    In one of the small, light shuttle craft they went from the station to the main rocket.

  • 1967 Galileo Seven (Star Trek episode) (transcription)

    Captain to shuttlecraft Galileo. Stand by, Mr. Spock. [Ibid.] Out there somewhere, a twenty-four foot shuttlecraft, off course, out of control. Finding a needle in a haystack would be child’s play.

  • 1967 E. Hamilton Weapon From Beyond 150 Edmond Hamilton bibliography

    They marched across the blowing sand and into the golden shuttle-craft that would take them to the rescue ship.

  • 1968 S. E. Whitfield in S. E. Whitfield & G. Roddenberry Making of ‘Star Trek’ ii. ii. 191 bibliography

    The ship’s hangar deck area, where the vessel’s shuttlecraft are stored, is located at the aft end.

  • 1975 A. D. Foster Midworld (1976) 208 Alan Dean Foster bibliography

    It’s true our shuttlecraft can’t fly again. But its internal systems check out operational, including communications.

  • 1981 B. Shaw Galactic Tours 13 Bob Shaw bibliography

    Our picture shows the practice areas in use by suited and unsuited vacationers, the illusion of actually being in space enhanced by the sight of a shuttle craft approaching one of the station’s receiving bays.

  • 1981 G. R. R. Martin in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact Magazine 12 Oct. 31/2 George R. R. Martin

    Excellent!… I shall instruct you in the peculiar idiosyncracies of my shuttle craft, then.

  • 1989 D. Dvorkin & D. Dvorkin Captains’ Honor (Star Trek: Next Generation) i. 22 David Dvorkin Daniel Dvorkin bibliography

    Please—come to us by shuttlecraft. We would like to receive you in the appropriate style.

  • 1997 J. Vornholt Mind Meld (Star Trek) i. 1 John Vornholt bibliography

    His only means of reaching the shuttlecraft field undetected was through this sewer.

  • 1999 C. Pellegrino & G. Zebrowski Dyson Sphere (Star Trek: Next Generation) iii. 52 George Zebrowski Charles Pellegrino bibliography

    The interior of the shuttlecraft Balboa had seats suitable for humanoids as well as saddles for Hortas.

  • 2017 M. F. Flynn Nexus in Analog Science Fiction and Fact Mar.–Apr. iv. 22/1 Michael F. Flynn bibliography

    Instruments identify the source as a small, boxy vehicle nesting in the shadows across the way, and he sprints toward it. The vessel is unfamiliar and too small even for a shuttlecraft.

Research requirements

antedating 1953
Earliest cite

Daniel Galouye
Research History
There are probably earlier examples in Star Trek production documents; the first use in The Original Series was in "The Galileo Seven," which aired on January 5, 1967. The version of the Star Trek Guide that has been most widely circulated is the Third Revision of 17 April 1967; we would like to check any pre-1967 production documents or scripts.

Malcolm Farmer submitted a cite from a reprint of George R.R. Martin's "Loaves and Fishes", and Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1985 first magazine appearance.
Malcolm Farmer submitted a cite for the form "shuttle craft" from a reprint of George R.R. Martin's "Guardians", and Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1981 first magazine appearance.
Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a 1990 reprint of Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee's "Rama II"; the cite is actually from a promotional excerpt from Clarke and Lee's "Garden of Rama".
Katrina Campbell submitted a 1981 cite from Bob Shaw's "Galactic Tours".
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 1989 reprint of Mike Resnick's 1988 "Ivory".
Douglas Winston submitted a 1989 cite from Joe Clifford Faust's "Desperate Measures".
Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a 1992 reprint of Anne McCaffrey's 1991 "Pegasus in Flight".
Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a reprint of Edmond Hamilton's "The Weapon From Beyond"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1967 first edition.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2017 cite from Michael F. Flynn.

Added to the OED in June 2003, with non-SF (earliest cite 1950) and SF (earliest cite 1967) evidence.

Last modified 2023-11-01 14:48:46
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.