space capsule n.
a small spacecraft, or self-contained section of a larger one, containing the instruments or crew for a space flight
In quot. 1943, a time capsule sent into space.
Vehicles
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1943
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Leroy Yerxa
bibliography
Jerry Rand was fully convinced that the space capsule, said to contain man’s greatest treasure, had restored to the world something long forgotten.
Daughter of Destiny in Amazing Stories Apr. 194/1 -
1954
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When a Sun and planets are observed to be approaching conditions suitable for the evolution of intelligent life based on carbon atoms, the system is visited by our ships. As the develoment of planets is dependent upon so many factors, however, these ships merely make a survey, and pass on, leaving behind a space capsule containing a unit such as this you now see.
Space Capsule in New Worlds Science Fiction May 48 -
1961
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Arthur C. Clarke
For the first time, Tibor could see the space-capsule in its entirety. It was such a peculiar-looking object, being designed for conditions beyond all normal experience, that there was an eye-teasing wrongness about it. One searched in vain for a front or a rear. There was no wasy of telling in what direction it pointed as it sped along its orbit.
At the End of the Orbit in Worlds of If 94/2 -
1977
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Charles L. Harness
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He thought the space capsule had already emptied its death canister, and the contents would be reaching the earth’s surface within hours.
Wolfhead in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Dec. 129/1 -
1993
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An alien space capsule crash-lands down to planet Earth in an isolated section of rural America.
in Science Fiction Age May 68/1 -
2007
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William Barton
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What if I had the money to buy a space capsule from one of the New Space Entrepreneurs I was reading about, and go on my own real space adventure?
Rocket into Planetary Space in Asimov’s Science Fiction Apr.–May 105
Research requirements
antedating 1954
Earliest cite
E. R. James 'Space Capsule'
Research History
Fred Galvin found a reference in the ISFDB to a story by E.R.James, "Space Capsule" in New Worlds, May 1954; Derek Hepburn verified this reference, and supplied a cite from the story.
Last modified 2020-12-16 04:08:47
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.