This article is about the vehicle for interstellar travel. Starship was also a mid-1980s name for a follow-on to the band Jefferson Airplane. There is also an aircraft known as the Beechcraft Starship.

the starship Enterprise-D, from Star Trek

A starship is a spaceship designed for interstellar travel, specifically between solar systems. Science fiction abounds with tales of such ships. Space-going vessels that are not intended for travel between star systems are often referred to as spaceships.

A common literary device is to posit a faster-than-light propulsion system (such as warp drive) or travel through hyperspace, although some starship stories have their craft outfitted for centuries-long journeys of slower-than-light travel. Other designs posit a way to boost the ship to near-lightspeed, allowing relatively "quick" travel (i.e. decades, not centuries) to nearer stars.

Humanity has not yet constructed any true starships, although many scientists and enthusiasts have discussed proposals for interstellar travel. This article focuses on starships as they are encountered in science fiction.

Starship designs can be divided into:

• Sleeper ships
• Generation ships
• Starships that take advantage of relativistic time dilation
• Faster-than-light starships (not possible according to current understanding of physics; see article)

Fictional starships

Different authors and different stories will, of course, imagine different kinds of starships. Certain common elements are found in most fiction that discusses starships. Fiction that discusses slower-than-light starships is relatively rare, since the time scales are so long. Faster-than-light starships are often imagined as analogous to sea-going ships.

Starships are typically large, multi-passenger vehicles (cf starfighter). They range in size from small personal yachts and courier ships, up to vast bulk containers (used for intrasystem shipping) and enormous warships. Exceedingly large spacegoing craft (e.g. the Death Star) are typically not referred to as "starships," since words like "artificial planet" are often more accurate. Space stations and other structures intended to orbit a heavenly body are not usually called starships, even if they can move under their own power. In order to save costs, many ships are usually built to the same plans. In some universes, a successful class can have production runs reach into the hundreds of thousands or even millions of units and see service with dozens of customers.

Starships virtually always operate under similar laws and guidelines as real-world seagoing vessels. The primary reason is that deep space is an even more hazardous environment than the deep sea, and so extreme caution must be taken in all starship operations. A side effect of this is that spacegoing fleets, especially space militaries, are usually organized similar to modern Earth navies.

Depending on original design, recent history, current intended use, local laws, space piracy, and the ethics of the current owner, a starship may be fitted with a wide variety of engines, weapons, equipment, and internal compartments. Small freighters used for smuggling are typically fast, modified to avoid detection, are often heavily armed, and may have secret holds for hiding contraband cargo. Large container ships usually have little in the way of shielding or weaponry, but have huge, powerful engines necessary for moving vast quantities of cargo through (or between) star systems.

Passenger vessels, such as luxury liners, are often similar to modern cruise ships, containing luxurious passenger cabins, gambling halls, showrooms, restaurants, and lounges. Warships contain crew quarters, extensive weaponry and shielding, massive engines, sophisticated sensor and communications arrays, and usually a detachment of non-naval soldiers trained in assaulting and capturing enemy spacecraft, targets on planetary surfaces, or both.

Famous fictional starships

• USCSS Nostromo
• Battlestar Galactica
• Imperial Star Destroyer Avenger
• Super Star Destroyer Executor
• Millennium Falcon
• TCS Tiger's Claw
• TCS Concordia
• SDF-1 Macross
• Red Dwarf
• Space Battleship Yamato
• Heart of Gold
• USS Enterprise NX-01; NCC-1701(A,B,C,D,E,J)
• Leonora Christine
• List of heavy cruiser-type starships (partial)

See also

• Interstellar travel
• Intergalactic travel
• List of fictional spaceships
• Spacecraft propulsion
• space shuttle
• spacecraft
• spacecraft propulsion
• UFO
• starship class