space shuttle

noun

: a reusable spacecraft designed to transport people and cargo between earth and space

Examples of space shuttle in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Challenger disaster was of course the 1986 explosion of NASA’s eponymous space shuttle shortly after launch, which left all seven crew members dead. — Matt Grobar, Deadline, 23 Sep. 2026

In 2009, Hernández flew aboard space shuttle Discovery on mission STS-128, traveling to the International Space Station. — Kenny Choi, CBS News, 22 Sep. 2026

Galileo launched in 1989 from the payload bay of the space shuttle Atlantis and arrived at Jupiter in 1995. — Tariq Malik, Space.com, 21 Sep. 2026

As for the Enterprise space shuttle, it was displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in 2003 before moving over to the Intrepid Museum in New York City nine years later. — David Chiu, PEOPLE, 17 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1950, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for space shuttle

• rebuttal
• cuttle
• scuttle
• shtetl
• subtle
• suttle

Kids Definition

space shuttle

noun

: a spacecraft designed to transport people and cargo between earth and space that can be used repeatedly