space shuttle

American  

noun

(often initial capital letters)

1. any of several U.S. space vehicles consisting of a reusable manned orbiter that touches down on a landing strip after an orbital mission, two reusable solid rocket boosters that drop off after initial ascent, and an expendable external tank containing liquid propellants.

---

space shuttle British  

noun

1. any of a series of reusable US space vehicles ( Columbia (exploded 2003), Challenger (exploded 1986), Discovery , Atlantis , Endeavour ) that can be launched into earth orbit transporting astronauts and equipment for a period of observation, research, etc, before re-entry and an unpowered landing on a runway; the first operational flight occurred in 1981 and it was taken out of service in 2011

---

space shuttle Cultural  

1. A vehicle built by NASA that is capable of taking off from Earth, carrying a crew and a cargo into space, and returning to Earth to be used again. It is used primarily to transport a crew to an orbiting space station and to deploy and retrieve satellites.

---

Discover More

The space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff in 1986. All seven crew members died in the accident.

Etymology

Origin of space shuttle

An Americanism dating back to 1965–70

Example Sentences

Yet, it’s true: Several trailblazing Black astronauts stayed aboard for several days while helping build the ISS on space shuttle missions.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026

Nasa's "Type A" grade puts the Starliner incident at the same level assigned to the fatal 2023 Columbia and 1986 Challenger space shuttle disasters.

From BBC • Feb. 19, 2026

With SpaceX’s forthcoming Starship, launch costs per kilogram are expected to fall to 1% of the costs under the space shuttle.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 3, 2026

It had already been quite a year: the doomed Challenger space shuttle had exploded months earlier, and the disaster at Chernobyl was on everyone’s minds.

From Slate • Feb. 2, 2026

You had to be in the middle of nowhere when you were building and testing rocket boosters—not just for the space shuttle, but for military missiles, too.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel