Questions tagged [spaceship]
For questions about the specific functions or layouts (etc.) of spaceship or spacecraft in a work. Always use this tag in conjunction with the correct tags for that work.
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Why are ships in Star Wars so ridiculously easy to steal?
Throughout both continuities, we see many times that stealing ships is exceptionally easy, as they appear to only rarely be locked, and to not require keys, passcodes, etc. to fly them.
A few ...
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When and why did the Enterprise get balls?
When the USS Enterprise first appeared, its warp nacelles looked like this from the rear:
At some point in The Original Series, the ship seems to have enjoyed a mild refit, resulting in ball-like ...
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What was the first Sci-Fi work to feature a spaceship?
I can't believe this question hasn't been asked here before, but I haven't been able to find it, so here goes.
When was the first spaceship featured in science fiction?
By the time of Asimov, ...
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Was Voyager really significantly slower than the Enterprise-D?
In the Next Generation episode “Where No One Has Gone Before” the Enterprise is catapulted to another galaxy, roughly 2.7 million light years away. From that location Data says it will take just over ...
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Why do X-wings change wing configuration?
The X-wing fighters can change their wing configuration, from the X shape during battle to flat wings (the wings on the same side fold together) during FTL travel.
I'm guessing that the real world ...
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Spaceship from a film or show that is semi circular in shape with a section jutting out of the middle
I was out with friends last night and we went into a sci-fi bar where they have props and models all over the place. We had fun identifying all the ships, costumes and stuff, but one model had us ...
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Are any ships in Star Wars capable of intergalactic travel?
It always made me curious to hear:
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away ...
Which implies that the Star Wars universe is in a separate galaxy to our own. Then I was reading Are there Star ...
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Why do Star Trek vessels always approach each other on parallel planes?
Space is just open 3D space, right? In Star Trek, ships are always coming from somewhere else: different solar systems, galaxies, etc. However, when they meet, they always seem to be on parallel ...
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Do we ever see the hamster wheel that powers the Enterprise-D in a TNG episode or in 'Generations'?
I recently read an entry in the Star Trek Encyclopedia which noted that there were a lot of little 'in-jokes' on the Enterprise-D's Master Display in Engineering, including a Porsche. One of the most ...
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In The Martian, how were the crew in the Hermes shielded from radiation?
I have not read the book of The Martian, but there was one glaring omission in the movie that struck me.
How were the crew in the Hermes protected from radiation?
In space, especially ...
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Late 1960's Comic Book with H shaped space ship
In a period approximately from 1967 - 1971 I remember reading a space adventure comic book with an unusually shaped spaceship with a crew of, I think, scientists-explorers. I cannot remember the ...
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Why is there a lot of low-tech in Battlestar Galactica?
On one hand, residents of the Twelve colonies perfected travel in spaceships and FTL jumps, but on the other hand, they have some really low-tech technologies, such as disconnecting a network by ...
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What's that ship in the opening credits of 'Star Trek: Enterprise'?
In the Star Trek: Enterprise opening credits it seems to step through starship history up to the Enterprise NX-01.
After Cochran's Phoenix, there is a ship that we see almost only from behind, and ...
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A man wakes up from stasis alone on a spaceship then creates the greatest story in history
I read this story in the early 2000s, but it was a Chinese translation so the English version could be older.
The beginning is a bit like the Passengers movie: on a spaceship, a man woke up from ...
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Why doesn't the Enterprise use stealth/invisibility technology like the Romulans and Klingons?
The stealth mode of starships plays a huge role in many Star Trek films and episodes and is a strong advantage in combat. I remember an episode revealing that the Federation developed a secret stealth ...
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What is the origin of the "self-destruct sequence"?
As far as I'm aware, we don't have anything like a self-destruct or auto-destruct sequence in real life ships at sea or in space, so where did the idea originate? I'm thinking of a specific function ...
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Why was the Defiant so small?
The USS Defiant (NX-74205) and other ships of its class were developed as experimental warships by the Federation to fight the Borg. These ships had massive and powerful armaments including phaser ...
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Short story with spaceship and humanity not realising they should be on it
The plot is about:
A spaceship travelling through the universe
Earth is a rogue planet whose inhabitants have been cut off and don't realise that their true purpose is to be part of the spaceship
...
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Old SF novel, set on a military ship, one character can't order spaghetti and meatballs because of sudden mid-voyage rationing?
This one is a real longshot. I won't be surprised if nobody can identify it. I read this book sometime in the early-to-mid-1980s. Science fiction novel, checked out from a public library, written in ...
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First use of the term "warp" to denote travel/speed?
I have just watched Space Battleship Yamato (2010) and they used the term "warp" to denote a type of drive. I think Star Trek is the obvious place where this term was first used to describe faster ...
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What allows Star Wars ships to slow down?
In the universe of Star Wars, many ships (excluding the X-Wing - the large circles on the front are retro thrust nozzles) appear to lack forward-facing thrusters or retro thrusters.
The TIE fighter ...
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What's the point of Super Star Destroyers?
To my knowledge, a regular Imperial Star Destroyer is a massive source of firepower and will intimidate most opposition in to not even trying to fight back. As for the few that would try and fight ...
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Why are all Federation starships similar in design?
All Federation starships I have seen have a very similar configuration. Is there any in-universe explanation for this?
I know this configuration comes from human ships like the NX-01, but why was it ...
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What was the first instance of a fighter spacecraft
While spaceships of varying size and technology have long been a fixture of sci-fi, fighter sized spacecraft used for combat seem to have only appeared in the late 70s. Since fighter planes have been ...
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What are these symbols in the corridors of star destroyers?
I was watching the star destroyer flythrough and noticed these odd symbols all over the corridors.
What are they?
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Film about a spacecraft AI trying to breed a new mechanic
This was a film which features a spacecraft that has an AI. There is only one man and one woman in the movie. The man is the only one on the spaceship and he is just there as a mechanic.
The AI ...
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Robotic Spaceships have a human prisoner to maintain them
Cant remember if it was a book or a tv show (like Outer Limits/Twilight Zone) or movie. (I don't think it was a movie)
At least 20 years old. Whatever format it would have been in English in the USA.
...
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Why was a Nebulon-B medical frigate at the Battle of Endor?
So rewatched the final battle scene from Return of the Jedi last night and caught the line:
They’re heading for the medical frigate!
It’s something I never thought about before since seeing the ...
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Alien captain shows his ship to one of the human delegates, but can't really impress him
Recently I started watching YouTube videos with short stories about spacefaring humans and their first contact or other encounters with aliens. These stories mostly titled HFY, from a reddit site ...
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Are there any Starfleet vessels named after non-humans?
There are a number of Starfleet vessels that are named after famous humans. For instance, Star Trek: The Next Generation had appearances from the USS Crazy Horse ("Descent") and the USS Pasteur ("All ...
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How do ordinary citizens get around the Federation?
It's a common plot in Star Trek series for the Enterprise to be tasked with transporting various VIP's to destinations where they are needed urgently - an ambassador to a treaty ceremony, a doctor to ...
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What was the function of ring-shaped module in 22nd century Vulcan ships?
All 22nd century Vulcan ships had a ring-shaped module. Not just starships, but small shuttle pods also had this module. As Vulcans do everything logically, there must be some purposes of those ...
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Why do Vipers use skids instead of wheels?
Why do the Vipers in Battlestar Galactica use skids as landing gear instead of wheels?
Did they use the skids when landing at airfields back in the colonies?
I'm mostly interested in in-universe ...
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What is the identity of this Rebel starship?
There is this fat-looking starship with wing-like protrusions:
What is it? It reminds me of Separatist Muunilinst-class frigates but those are similar in size to Venator-class Star Destroyers, ...
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What fuel/resources are used to power engines in the Star Wars universe?
What kind of fuel or resources are used to power most engines in the Star Wars universe? They often reference engines as "reactors". Fusion, fission, something fantasy? Is there a waste product and if ...
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Have we ever seen TIE fighters/bombers operating in atmosphere before?
In the trailers for Star Wars - Episode VII: The Force Awakens, we see TIE-type vessels flying near the ground, in the atmosphere of a planet (the planet itself looks a lot like Tatooine).
...
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What's the history of the term "starship"?
Context: I rewatched Star Wars: A New Hope in preparation for the impending release of The Force Awakens, and was struck by this, in the opening crawl:
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away...
[...
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Are there any Vulcan ships?
This Star Trek question popped up in chat today. Setting aside Enterprise, do we ever see in a Star Trek show or movie a Vulcan designed and built ship that was built after the Federation was ...
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Show with a swarm of self-replicating robot spiders attempting to take over a starship
I don't really remember a lot about this show, other than that there was a swarm of self-replicating robot spiders that tried to take over a starship. I believe at some point several crew members ...
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Humourous television series. An arrogant man seems to be giving a blow by blow account of a dangerous battle. He was describing a game of Risk
Two men are on a spaceship. One is arrogant and a windbag. He is telling a long and detailed story that seems to be about a dangerous battle in which he fought.
The other man loses his patience and ...
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Why do the Rangers and Endurance in the film "Interstellar" not have an apparent fuel source?
In the film Interstellar...
However, neither ship has a visible fuel tank, with the one exception when a Ranger is launched into Earth orbit on top of a rocket. But...
Is there an in-universe ...
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Does a spaceship lose air reserves every time an airlock is opened?
Something seemed to me a little bit bizarre when watching some movies or series that take place in space.
When someone wants to leave a ship (either alone or with a smaller vehicle), there must be ...
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Sci-fi movie with one survivor and an organism(?) recreating his memories
I watched this movie some time ago.
Actual info about plot:
There is a man waking up in spaceship/space station. He is awoken by an ex-girlfriend/wife(?). She asks him a couple of times if he ...
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Why do capital ships in Star Wars engage at close range?
As can be seen in the below image from Revenge of the Sith, capital ships tend to engage one another at close range:
Within the Star Wars universe, capital ships typically engage each other at what I ...
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Story where a spaceship realizes that it has been hit by an asteroid that destroyed its ability to detect being hit by asteroids
There was a science fiction story that I read at some point (I can’t remember if it’s a self-contained story or part of a larger book) that’s centered around an ai in a spaceship that realizes it has ...
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Golden age SF short story where spacecraft pilots are reanimated dead people?
The key detail from the story was that because of cosmic rays or some other deadly phenomenon, pilots of spacecraft returning to earth had to be dead people who had been specially reanimated. Living ...
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Was the Death Star cost effective?
According to General Dodonna in the new canonical novelization of A New Hope, titled Star Wars - New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy:
The Death Star is heavily shielded and ...
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Movie ID: Spaceship launches fighter ships from "revolver"
This is a long shot.
I would like to find an old black and white science fiction movie that I saw on TV.
The one scene that has stuck in my mind was of a spaceship launching its fighter ships in ...
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Book Identification: Story set on 'abandoned' spaceship with an A.I. over crackly loudspeakers
I read this book back in the late 90s, early 2000s at my public library, although the book seemed a little worn, probably came out in the 80s or so. It was a Young Adult Sci-Fi action, if I remember ...
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