Some fictional spaceships have been referenced in the real world, notably Starship Enterprise from Star Trek which gave its name to Space Shuttle Enterprise and to the VSS Enterprise. Some hard science fiction books focus on the technical details of the craft. Numerous short stories and novels are built up around various ideas for spacecraft, and spacecraft have featured in many films and television series.
Spaceships are often one of the key plot devices in science fiction. The terms ' spaceship' and ' starship' are generally applied only to fictional space vehicles, usually those capable of transporting people. The term ' spacecraft' is mainly used to refer to spacecraft that are real or conceived using present technology.
This is a list of fictional spacecraft, starships and exo-atmospheric vessels that have been identified by name in notable published works of fiction.
