Wiktionary
n. A relatively small spacecraft, usually capable of atmospheric transport.
Wikipedia
Shuttlecraft may refer to any smaller spacecraft, usually capable of atmospheric transport, such as:
- Shuttlecraft (Star Trek), small space vehicles in the fictional universe of Star Trek
- Imperial Shuttlecraft, similar vehicles featured in the Star Wars universe
- The Space Shuttle, an orbital spacecraft built and operated by NASA
Shuttlecraft are fictional vehicles in the Star Trek science fiction franchise built for short trips in space, such as between a planetary surface and orbit. Also referred to as shuttles, their introduction preceded the development of the Space Shuttle.
Before Star Trek, science fiction productions from Forbidden Planet to Rocky Jones, Space Ranger assumed that a long-range starship would land on planets. Gene Roddenberry's original premise stated that the starship Enterprise rarely lands. Given the special effects complexity of landing a giant starship each week, "rarely" was quickly changed to "never". Dated March 1964, the premise mentions a "small shuttle rocket". The shuttle rocket was too expensive to build for the first episodes. For most of the series the transporter served to teleport characters on and off the ship.
In the first year of Star Trek: The Original Series the need quickly developed for shuttlecraft. Used to carry personnel, cargo and reconnaissance payloads, shuttles filled the same need as boats on a Navy ship. They were also used by starbases. For television writers, they served the dramatic function of putting characters in a small ship that could get lost. Though shuttlecraft were initially expensive to build, they were eventually used in every Star Trek series.
Usage examples of "shuttlecraft".
Klingons in the lab, and scientists and shuttlecraft pilots, because one of the new transporter booths went really crazy.
Leah Brahms stepped forward to inspect the shuttlecraft, which sat in a black scorch mark at the bottom of the crater.
Now if only he had something to put in it, and the empty bottle he had salvaged from the wrecked shuttlecraft.
Because all the Klingon shuttlecraft were gone, helping the Aluwnans with their transporter satellites, there was plenty of room for the larger runabout to enter and find a place to set down.
Some of the Klingon shuttlecraft have transporters, and we can use one to beam it up.
He looked through the walls at the access tube itself, the distant shuttlecraft, the Transporter Coordinating Platform high on the wall above them all the careful precautions they had taken to maintain the integrity of the vessel's atmosphereand grimaced in reaction.
Which is gold-plated bizarre, because while I'm hands-on-the-controls, the acceleration couch prodding my back and my suit turning into a sauna because I'm all for conserving its resources as long as I have a perfectly functional shuttlecraft providing me with life support, I'm also spinning apart, decohering, as if fingers and toes and eyes and kidneys and guts all suddenly decided that the arrangement that's suited them just fine for the last fifty-odd years simply will not do for another cotton-picking moment.
As far as physical evidence, she was fairly certain the investigation would yield an exhaustive volume of technical specs that would ultimately add up to what she already knew: Someone shot down the shuttlecraft.
They had shuttlecraft capable of traveling between the four planets, if need be, and ground and air transportation for their own work, but nothing interstellar.
They had shuttlecraft capable of traveling between the planets if necessary and ground and air transportation to carry on their own work, but nothing interstellar.
A phaser blast jarred the Cook, a small personnel shuttlecraft with one aboard, a unique artificial life- form modeled after a human.
Ready two shuttlecraft for launch, and begin withdrawing the away teams.
The Isolator tapped one of the monitoring posts which the shuttlecraft was approaching, released a spy-bee from the distant outpost's storage unit.
Before either of them could say more, the Isolator fragment swept back at them streaked only feet above the shuttlecraft roof again.
In the pulsing mass of amber flesh pressed against the plastiglass windscreen of the shuttlecraft, the Isolator formed an eye, one of the blue-white frosted orbs that had adorned its bat form only minutes earlier.