Wikipedia:WikiProject Spaceflight/Style guide

This is a draft, work in progress guideline to reflect project consensus application of the Manual of Style.

Italic type

The style guideline says: "Italic type (text like this) should be used for the names of ... named, specific vessels: ... Spacecraft (often fictional)." The following examples are given: the Space Shuttle Challenger, USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Constitution-class starships

For purposes of the style guide, spacecraft are taken as a metaphoric extension of ocean-going ships; this is exemplified by the term spaceship used in fiction, which denotes a reusable interplanetary or interstellar vessel, the only consumable and expendable part of which is the fuel. Such "spaceships" do not yet truly exist, yet some manned spacecraft have been named in this manner, and more can be expected in the future as spaceflight continues to develop. Real-world named spacecraft have included the Project Mercury capsules (e.g. Friendship 7); the Apollo lunar spacecraft (e.g. Apollo 11 Columbia and Eagle); and the Space Shuttles.