The word "太空船" is formed by combining the characters 太 (meaning "great" or "extreme"), 空 (meaning "sky" or "empty"), and 船 (meaning "boat" or "ship"). The characters 太 and 空 together form the compound "太空", which translates to "outer space". Adding 船 to "太空" creates "太空船", literally meaning "space ship", used to denote a spacecraft.