An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A manned or unmanned space flight outside the Earth’s atmosphere.

Etymology (EN): → space; mission, from L. missionem (nominative missio) “act of sending,” from mittere “to send,” of unknown origin.

Etymology (PE): Gosilân, from gosil, variant gosi “sending away, dismission;” Mid.Pers. wisé “to despatch” (Parthian Mid.Pers. wsys- “to despatch;” Buddhist Mid.Pers. wsydy “to despatch;” Sogdian ‘ns’yd- “to exhort”), from Proto-Iranian *vi-sid- “to despatch, send off,” from prefix vi- “apart, away, out,” + *sid- “to call” + -ân nuance suffix; fazâyi adj. of fazâ, → space.