Topic: Tag alias: rocket_ship -> spacecraft

Posted under Tag Alias and Implication Suggestions

crocogator said:
There's apparently also rocket. Are rocket, rocket_ship, and spacecraft all the same? Or maybe flying saucer/UFO are a different type of spacecraft? Apparently, there's also space_shuttle, which implies spacecraft and I guess is also somehow different than a rocket??? Does this look right?

Wouldn't work with your previous alias reuquest (can't alias rocket_ship to multiple things). Additionally, they are all at least somewhat different; for instance, something like a tie_fighter is a spacecraft but definitely not a rocket or rocket_ship. A missile is a rocket, but not a rocket_ship.

Are rocket, rocket_ship, and spacecraft all the same?

IMO, no, they're all different things. A rocket is just a device or vehicle that produces thrust by burning fuel, typically to fly upwards into the sky/space or at a fixed arc. A rocket ship would inarguably be a type of spacecraft, you pretty much always see them either on a launchpad or flying into space. Not all spacecraft would be classified as rocket ships or even fly via rocketry, see solar sails

Or maybe flying saucer/UFO are a different type of spacecraft?

A "flying saucer" is a pop culture invention, it's definitely a spacecraft, probably falls under the category of "UFO", but a UFO isn't necessarily a spacecraft. UFO stands for "Unidentified Flying Object" which have, in both fiction (some of the time) and real life (100% of the time so far) turned out to be explainable and not actually space ships.

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