Spaceman

A spaceman, in stfnal terms, is usually someone who travels in outer space for a living, typically as pilot or crew on a spaceship — i.e. an astronaut.

Raymond Z. Gallun seems to have been first to use “Space Men” (in “The Revolt of the Star Men,” Wonder Stories Quarterly, Winter 1932), but he used it to refer to alien beings from another planet. However, a year later, C. L. Moore used spaceman without explanation in a reference to “spaceman’s boots” (Shambleau, Weird Tales, November 1933).

Spaceman entry in the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.

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Fanspeak

1932—

This is a fanspeak page. Please extend it by adding information about when and by whom it was coined, whether it’s still in use, etc.