space yacht n.

a luxurious spaceship for personal use

Vehicles

  • 1931 E. Hamilton Sargasso of Space in Astounding Stories Sept. 400/2 page image Edmond Hamilton bibliography

    They moved on to the next ship, a private space-yacht, small in size, but luxurious in fittings.

  • 1934 ‘D. Stuart’ Twilight in Astounding Stories Nov. 52/1 page image John W. Campbell, Jr. bibliography

    Three ships. One must have been fifty feet long and fifteen in diameter. It was a yacht, a space yacht, probably.

  • 1940 A. E. van Vogt Vault of the Beat Astounding Science-Fiction Aug. 60/1 A. E. van Vogt bibliography

    He has commanded his own space yacht; he knows more about the mathematical end of the work than our whole staff put together; and that is no reflection on our staff. He knows the hardships connected with space flying, and believes that it is exactly what he needs.

  • 1950 H. B. Piper Last Enemy in Astounding Science Fiction Aug. 56/2 H. Beam Piper bibliography

    Brarnend of Zorda has a private space yacht; he'll get us to Venus.

  • 1956 R. A. Heinlein Double Star in Astounding Science Fiction Mar. 118/1 Robert A. Heinlein

    It was just the amount of audience I wanted, enough to tie it down solid that ‘Mr. Bonforte’ had arrived by official car and had left for his space yacht.

  • 1973 A. D. Foster Bloodhype 109 Alan Dean Foster bibliography

    I'm not picky, myself. I wish only a very small space yacht—KK drive equipped, of course—with a platinum head.

  • 1985 B. Searles On Books in Asimov’s Science Fiction Jan. 183/1 page image Baird Searles

    All this takes place in a slightly mad galaxy of space yachts and matter transmission.

  • 2005 Asimov’s Science Fiction Feb. 1 (advt.) page image

    Sixty years ago, the luxury space yacht Polaris embarked on a journey…. The ship was found, but the pilot and passengers had disappeared.

Research requirements

antedating 1931
Earliest cite

Edmond Hamilton, "The Sargasso of Space"
Research History
Ralf Brown located a cite in an electronic text of Alan Dean Foster's 1973 "Bloodhype", and David Dyer-Bennet verified it in a paper copy.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1950 cite from H. Beam Piper's "Last Enemy".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1948 cite from Murray Leinster's "Planet of Sand".
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1957 reprint of Robert A. Heinlein's 1956 "Double Star"; Mike Christie verified it in the first publication.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1941 cite from J. Harvey Haggard's "Derelicts of Uranus".
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a reprint of A.E. van Vogt's "Vault of the Beast"; Mike Christie verified it in the 1940 first appearance.
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1971 reprint of "Twilight" by John W. Campbell Jr, which Mike Christie verified this in its first publication (Astounding Stories, November 1934, as by Don A. Stuart)
Jesse Sheidlower submitted a 1931 cite from Edmond Hamilton's "The Sargasso of Space".

Last modified 2020-12-16 04:08:47
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.