Spacecraft

A spacecraft is a vehicle that travels through space using an external and passive method of propulsion, while a spaceship flies through space by means of active propulsion via an internal engine and propellant fuel. A spacecraft is a Type I technology used for sub-light impulse speeds before the invention of faster-than-light methods of travel. Initially spacecraft are for interplanetary travel but later can be used for close interstellar travel.

Spaceships can launch and land by themselves whereas spacecraft need launch-assist and land-assist mechanisms.

Land-assist mechanisms
First spacecraft used rocket or chemical engines that created a thrust reaction by expelling mass. Then electromagnetic and ion thrusters came along until more advanced propulsion technology was invented. With field propulsion, no propellant is necessary but instead momentum of the spacecraft is changed by an interaction of the spacecraft with external force fields, such as gravitational and magnetic fields from stars and planets. The lighthugger used quantum mechanics.