space flight n.

a journey in or into outer space; (as a mass noun) space-travel generally

SF Encyclopedia


  • 1930 R. H. Leitfred Prisoners on the Electron in Astounding Stories Oct. 93/1 page image Robert H. Leitfred bibliography

    He stepped from the railed inclosure marking the spot where the atomic beam had restored them after their space flight.

  • 1931 Wonder Stories Jan. 900/1 page image

    We know now what conditions are necessary for a space flight… After all space flying is too great a matter to be limited by national pride and jealousy.

  • 1940 N. S. Bond Ultimate Salient in Planet Stories Fall 26/2 page image Nelson S. Bond bibliography

    It was weirdly strange, sitting there reading a story of spaceflight adventure written twenty years ago.

  • 1949 A. C. Clarke Across Sea of Stars (1959) 76 Arthur C. Clarke

    There is a timelessness about space-flight…unmatched by any other experience of man.

  • 1974 U. K. Le Guin Dispossessed (1975) vii. 187 Ursula K. Le Guin

    Where’s our instantaneous spaceflight?

  • 1980 D. Brin Sundiver vii.xxi. 238 David Brin

    More males volunteer for spaceflight than females.

  • 1985 B. Hambly Ishmael x. 143 Barbara Hambly

    Earth history before we made contact with other space-flight civilizations is too limited for what we want.

  • 1990 B. Forman Voyage to a Far Planet in Omni July 86/1 page image

    Spaceflight is tough duty even close to home in low Earth orbit.

  • 1992 V. Vinge Fire upon Deep i. vii. 45 Vernor Vinge bibliography

    I'll bet it’s an idea older than spaceflight: the ‘elder races’ must be toward the galactic core.

  • 2020 E. Bear Machine iii. 39 Elizabeth Bear bibliography

    And believe me, if there is anything centian-long [sic] space flights are good for, it’s gossip.


Research requirements

antedating 1931

Earliest cite

in Wonder Stories January

Research History
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2020 cite from Elizabeth Bear.

Last modified 2021-02-03 23:44:00
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.