aerospaceadj.n.
/ˈɛːrə(ʊ)speɪs/, U.S. /ˈɛroʊˌspeɪs/, /ˈɛrəˌspeɪs/ Originally U.S.
A. adj.
attributive. Of or relating to aviation and space flight considered together, esp. as a branch of technology and industry.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > air or space travel > [adjective] > technology of air or space travel
aerospace1955
1955 Los Angeles Times 16 Aug. iii. 7/1 Capt. John Hollenbeck, Air Force medical officer, who repeatedly risks his life in aero space medical research.
1958 W. A. Heflin Interim Gloss. Aero-space Terms p. iii This glossary of aero-space terms is published to give guidance in a specialized vocabulary that deals with space missiles, space vehicles, and the physical laws that govern them.
1963 Guardian 6 June 13/1 The change from an aircraft industry to an aerospace industry is one which has not yet been made in Britain.
1972 Jrnl. Brit. Astron. Assoc. 82 478 Those interested in aerospace astronomy may like to look at the paper by Kondo..describing ultra-violet spectrophotometric observations of Arcturus.
1989 Discover Oct. 1/2 You're driving an engine designed to aerospace tolerances.
2002 BusinessWeek 20 May 114/2 To smooth out costs and revenues, aerospace companies are allowed to average them over the entire duration of an airplane ‘program’.
B. n.
The atmosphere and outer space regarded jointly as a medium for flight and other activity; the branch of technology and industry concerned with aviation and space flight.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > space > [noun] > aerospace
aerospace1959
society > travel > air or space travel > [noun] > technology of
aerospace1959
1959 W. A. Heflin Aerospace Gloss. 3/2 Aerospace, n., the earth's envelope of air and the space above it, the two considered as a single realm for activity in the flight of air vehicles and in the launching, guidance, and control of ballistic missiles, earth satellites, dirigible space vehicles, and the like.
1960 John o' London's 7 Apr. 395/1 The Air Force now is operating in an age of ‘aero-space’.
1963 E. Thometz Decision-makers ii. 11 Leading manufacturing industries are aero-space, electronics, oil field equipment, apparel, and foods.
1964 Adv. Hydro-science 1 2 The use of acoustic energy to perform all those functions in hydrospace for which electromagnetic energy is employed in aerospace.
1989 Atlantic Dec. 60/1 We could think about the industries further down the technical ‘food chain’ that supports aerospace, from electronics and composite materials to machine tools.
2007 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 2 Jan. iii. 2/6 Early adopting industries include pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and aerospace.
Compounds
aerospace plane n. a space vehicle able to take off and land like an aeroplane; cf. shuttle n.1 8c.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > spacecraft > [noun] > takes off and lands like aeroplane
aerospace plane1962
1962 Flight Internat. 82 113 The concept of an ‘aerospace plane’ that takes off from and lands on conventional airfields yet is capable of orbital flight..is one which is actively being considered at present.
1990 T. Johnson in B. Fawcett Far Stars War 38 Risky Lady was a standard aerospace plane which still had..the ever-present biolink the avian aliens had given him.
2003 Pop. Sci. May 81/2 (caption) Shortly after the Challenger disaster in 1986, President Ronald Reagan launched the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) project.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1955