space taxi n.

a small spacecraft designed for short-distance ferrying of passengers

Vehicles

  • 1941 A. K. Barnes Trouble on Titan in Thrilling Wonder Stories Feb. xi. 49/1 page image Arthur K. Barnes bibliography

    The space taxis traveling from Hollywood on the Moon to the big bloated gambling ships detoured so their passengers could get a look at the phenomenon.

  • 1944 W. S. Peacock Chimera World in Planet Stories Winter 64/2 page image Wilbur S. Peacock bibliography

    I never stopped to think that you might not like the job of playing space taxi with me.

  • 1957 ‘I. Jorgensen’ Tailor-Made Killers in Fantastic Science-Fiction Aug. 94/1 page image Henry Slesar bibliography

    Three weeks later, the space taxi Gremlin arrived without ceremony at the invisibly-spinning turret of one of the Wheel’s two landing stations.

  • 1961 L. del Rey Moon of Mutiny 52 Lester del Rey bibliography

    A sausage-shaped space taxi was approaching the ship from the Station.

  • 1969 M. R. Sharpe Living in Space viii. 185 Mitchell R. Sharpe bibliography

    Despite the weightless environment, heavy work of this type may require a small vehicle that is variously called a space tug, space taxi, or bottlesuit.

  • 1985 M. McCollum Procyon’s Promise 101 page image Michael McCollum bibliography

    She followed Davidson to a berth operated by one of the three space taxi services that transported passengers and cargo between Von Braun and outlying ships.

  • 2010 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 8 June d1/1

    Then, instead of operating its own systems, like the space shuttles, NASA would buy rides for its astronauts on these commercial space taxis.

Research requirements

antedating 1941
Earliest cite

A.K. Barnes, in Thrilling Wonder Stories
Research History
OED has a 1952 cite from Willy Ley, under "taxi".
Jesse Sheidlower submitted a 1944 cite from W. S. Peacock in Planet Stories.

Last modified 2023-01-26 14:12:37
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.