spacewreck n.

the destruction of a spacecraft; a wrecked spacecraft

  • 1933 N. R. Jones Time’s Mausoleum in Amazing Stories Dec. 28/2 page image Neil R. Jones bibliography

    A human being killed in a space wreck among the asteroids had been brought back to life.

  • 1934 E. E. Smith Triplanetary in Amazing Stories Mar. 16/1 page image Edward E. Smith bibliography

    Familiar with space[-]wrecks as were they all, none of them had ever seen anything like the material before them.

  • 1943 H. Kuttner Soldiers of Space in Astonishing Stories Feb. 93/2 Henry Kuttner bibliography

    Wait till you’re diving at a spacewreck, head-on, and you’ve got half a second to pull out.

  • 1949 ‘C. Youd’ Christmas Tree in Astounding Science Fiction Feb. 158/2 page image John Christopher bibliography

    The exciting parts are news—spacewrecks and crashes and mad orbits—but the routine’s dull.

  • 1953 G. O. Smith Troubled Star in Startling Stories Feb. 13/1 page image George O. Smith bibliography

    But how about the several cases of spacewreck? Look what we're doing. We're setting up beacons along a rift through the galaxy from Marandis to the Spiral Cluster. We found this rift after years of hard work and galactic surveying and exploring, and both of you know just how fabulous it is. Well, suppose someone found it twenty thousand years ago and got marooned?

  • 1954 G. O. Smith Spacemen Lost in Startling Stories Fall 60/1 page image George O. Smith bibliography

    Vacantly the three survivors of spacewreck, in the lost lifeship, stared at the grille of the infrawave receiver in the deadly silence that followed Admiral Stone’s last transmission.

  • 1962 A. C. Clarke Ships for the Stars in Voices from the Sky (1967) 67 page image Arthur C. Clarke bibliography

    A would-be rescue ship could race helplessly past a space wreck without being able to assist it in any way, if its fuel supply was insufficient both to match speed and, ultimately, to depart again on an orbit that would take it back to safety. If it could only carry out the contact operation and not the departure, the result would merely be two derelicts instead of one.

  • 1974 ‘T. Zetford’ Whirlpool of Stars ii. 18 page image Kenneth Bulmer bibliography

    Just what dangers were involved in putting a life shell down no one really understood. The shells were built to take survivors from a spacewreck and transport them as rapidly as possible to the nearest bio-applicable planet. After that, surface tenders would rise from the surface to make contact and transport the survivors to safety.

  • 1983 J. White Survivor in Alien Emergencies (2002) 248 page image James White bibliography

    In spite of his considerable experience with spacewreck casualties of all shapes, sizes, and physiological classifications, Conway winced at the memory of what they had found.

  • 1990 C. Greenland Take Back Plenty (1991) lxiii. 484 page image Colin Greenland bibliography

    It was only that, the walking with a stick and getting the shakes first thing in the morning and last thing at night, that showed Balthazar Plum was a survivor of a horrendous spacewreck, and not quite the man he had been. He seemed older now; less like a dashing grandee and more like a dissolute granddad.

  • 2007 S. McDonald Outback Stars iii. 41 page image Sandra McDonald bibliography

    They say you’re never the same after a spacewreck. She was on the Yangtze.

Research requirements

antedating 1933
Earliest cite

N. R. Jones, "Time's Mausoleum", in Amazing Stories
Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a 1947 cite from Henry Kuttner's "Trouble on Titan".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1954 cite from George O. Smith's "Spacemen Lost".
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1951 reprint of Christopher Youd's "Christmas Tree"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1949 first appearance.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1953 cite from George O. Smith's "Troubled Star".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1943 cite from Henry Kuttner's "Soldiers of Space".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1948 cite from an editorial blurb in Amazing Stories
Fred Galvin submitted a cite for "space-wreck" from the Gutenberg etext edition of E.E. Smith's "Triplanetary", and the cite was confirmed from the original publication in Amazing Stories, Mar. 1934.
Jesse Sheidlower submitted a 1933 cite from N. R. Jones, in Amazing Stories.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 1962 cite from Arthur C. Clarke.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 1974 cite from Kenneth Bulmer, writing as "Tully Zetford".
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 1983 cite from James White.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 1990 cite from Colin Greenland.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2007 cite from Sandra McDonald.

Last modified 2021-09-14 21:53:00
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.