spacewoman n.

a female space traveller

  • 1937 ‘E. Binder’ S O S in Space in Astounding Stories Jan. 71/2 page image bibliography

    I’ve seen and met dozens of female spacemen—or spacewomen!—and not one, not a solitary one of them, was even remotely ‘charming’. Space hags, every one of them.

  • 1939 N.S. Bond Mercurian Menace in Dynamic Science Stories Feb. 62/2 page image

    I didn’t think any one man could be all they told me, back on Earth, that you were. All right, Mr. Carson—I will get that report myself. I’ll show you whether spacewomen are fools.

  • 1951 ‘L. del Rey’ Deadliest Female in Worlds Beyond Feb. 29 Lester del Rey

    He looked at her insignia, knowing Spacewomen were never promoted higher than lieutenants—his own rank—since they were automatically retired at thirty-five.

  • 1951 ‘L. del Rey’ Deadliest Female in Worlds Beyond Feb. 37 Lester del Rey

    Then someone threw open the door, and he looked up to see a Spacewoman standing there.

  • 1959 A. B. Chandler To Run Rim in Astounding Science Fiction Jan. 22/1 A. Bertram Chandler

    Almost all of them raised their mugs to the spaceman and spacewoman in salutation.

  • 1970 P. Anderson Tau Zero (1973) 8 Poul Anderson bibliography

    Her civilian garments were more stylish than was common on a spacewoman.

  • 1970 A. McCaffrey Ship who Sang (1991) iii. 62 Anne McCaffrey

    Shoulder-length hair was the common fashion among spacewomen.

  • 1987 B. G. Stephenson Dubious Pleasures in Amazing Stories Sept. 136 page image Bryan G. Stephenson bibliography

    Holy Mother Flicka, thought the novice spacewoman, why me?

  • 1998 K. MacLeod Cassini Division vii. 122 page image Ken MacLeod bibliography

    I first met Boris in 2110, on a military mission to the Sheenisov. We met on the frozen Lena outside Yatkutsk. He was a giant in furs, I a sexy spacewoman in my new smart-matter spacesuit, with its bubble helmet and black sheen.


Research requirements

antedating 1937

Earliest cite

"Eando Binder", in Astounding

Research History
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a reprint of A. Bertram Chandler's "The Rim of Space"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1959 first magazine appearance.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1951 cite from Lester del Rey's "The Deadliest Female".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1939 cite for the plural, "spacewomen", from Nelson S. Bond's "The Mercurian Menace".
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 1998 cite from Ken MacLeod.

Earliest cite in the OED: 1962.

Last modified 2021-09-13 11:27:45
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.