A shuttlecraft, also known as a shuttle spacecraft, shuttle ship, drop shuttle, drop spacecraft, or dropship, is a type of
spacecraft
A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...
described in theory and
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
. Serving the same purpose as a
ship's tender
A ship's tender, usually referred to as a tender, is a boat, or a larger ship, used to service or support other boats or ships. This is generally done by transporting people or supplies to and from shore or another ship.
A second and distinctl ...
, it is a smaller vessel that is launched from a
mother ship
A mother ship, mothership or mother-ship is a large vehicle that leads, serves, or carries other smaller vehicles. A mother ship may be a maritime ship, aircraft, or spacecraft.
Examples include bombers converted to carry experimental airc ...
, and has the ability to transport people or cargo between ships, or to and from a planet's surface without being damaged or destroyed. It has a secondary purpose as an evacuation ship if the mother ship is destroyed. While the
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...
was envisioned to make this type of craft a reality and reduce the cost of going into space, it ultimately
failed in its goal and
expendable launch systems remained a more cost-effective option.
Examples
The idea of a shuttle craft used for space travel first appeared in ''
The Great Romance
''For the silent film see The Great Romance (film)''
''The Great Romance'' is a science fiction and Utopian novel, first published in New Zealand in 1881. It had a significant influence on Edward Bellamy's 1888 ''Looking Backward'', the most po ...
'' (1881), where it was called the ''Midge'' and was used to explore
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
.
These types of craft later became a mainstay of science fiction.
The use of the word "shuttle" was taken from nautical terminology.
The idea was later used in ''
Star Trek'', where they are called
shuttlecraft
A shuttlecraft, also known as a shuttle spacecraft, shuttle ship, drop shuttle, drop spacecraft, or dropship, is a type of spacecraft described in theory and science fiction. Serving the same purpose as a ship's tender, it is a smaller vessel that ...
. Similar craft are also used by the
Visitors in ''
V'', and a more military-styled version known as the ''Cheyenne''-class dropship was used in ''
Aliens'' (1986), popularizing the use of the term to refer to shuttles that serve the same purpose as
military transport aircraft
A military transport aircraft, military cargo aircraft or airlifter is a military-owned transport aircraft used to support military operations by airlifting troops and military equipment. Transport aircraft are crucial to maintaining supply ...
.
Usage in
video games
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...
includes the drop shuttles from ''
Mass Effect
''Mass Effect'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Casey Hudson, Drew Karpyshyn and Preston Watamaniuk. The franchise depicts a distant future where humanity and several alien civilizations have colonized the known unive ...
'' and the Pelicans and dropships from ''
Halo
Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to:
* Halo (optical phenomenon)
* Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head
HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Video games
* ''Halo'' (franch ...
'', as well as the Terran dropship unit in the ''
StarCraft'' series.
Shuttlecraft have seen widespread use by all the major factions in the
Star Wars franchise. There are numerous variations on the concept within the Star Wars
Expanded Universe, but the main uses include use as: drop-ships, boarding craft,
assault landing craft, and as non-combat personnel transports.
Hypothetical usage
The use of shuttle ships was proposed as a means for economical transport to Mars.
People would ride a shuttle to a mother ship in orbit around the
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
, which would not need to slow down. This would increase the speed of travel from Earth to Mars, being able to transport hundreds of people at regular intervals.
See also
*
''Lambda''-class shuttle
References
{{Reflist
Fictional spacecraft by type
Hypothetical spacecraft