| 1953 R. A. Heinlein Sky Lift in Imagination Nov. 8/2
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He held a torcher's contempt for the vast distance itself. Older pilots thought of interplanetary trips with a rocketman's bias, in terms of years—trips that a torchship with steady acceleration covered in days.
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| 1956 Astounding Sci. Fiction Feb. 29/2
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The Can Do—that's this bucket—is about to rendezvous with the Go For Broke , which is a high-gee torchship.
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| 1959 R. A. Heinlein Menace From Earth (1968) 115
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He held a torcher's contempt for the vast distance itself. Older pilots thought of interplanetary trips with a rocketman's bias in terms of years—trips that a torch ship with steady acceleration covered in days.
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| 1974 N. Spinrad Riding Torch (1978) 189
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The first scoutship is launched by the Trek. Crewed by five volunteers, it is powered by a full-sized fusion torch though its mass is only one-tenth that of a conventional torchship.
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| 1982 A. Cole & C. Bunch Sten (1990) 48
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‘You think it oughta be like the old days? Say, like when there were torchships?’‘You ain't gotta go back that far, but tha's good example. More beer! Back when they was ion ships and men to match 'em.’‘Torchships my ass,’ Raschid sneered. He spat on the floor. ‘Those torchships. You know how they worked? Computer-run. From lift-off to set down.’
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| 1990 J. Pournelle & S. M. Stirling Asteroid Queen in L. Niven et al. Man-Kzin Wars III (1992) i. 41
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The little torchship had not been doing well of late, and the kzin-nominated purchasing combines on the asteroid base of Tiamat had been squeezing harder and harder.
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| 1992 R. Reed Remarkables 5
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Pitcairn was the last and largest torchship built by Earth, and it's the most famous of the bunch.
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