means A vehicle designed to travel, operate, or carry people and instruments in outer space, beyond Earth's atmosphere.

from A transparent compound of "space" + "craft," minted in the 20th century as humans began seriously plotting to leave the planet. "Space" came to mean the cosmic void via Latin "spatium" (an extent or expanse), while "craft" has meant a vessel or vehicle for centuries — first boats, then aircraft, and finally ships for the dark above the sky. The word rode in on the same wave as "spaceship" and "spacecraft," terms that science fiction kept warm for decades before engineers made them real.