History Main / SpaceshipSlingshotStunt

* In ''Series/StargateUniverse'', one of ''Destiny's'' shuttles attempts the maneuver around a planet to catch up to ''Destiny'' itself.

* Integral to the pilot of ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. Proving the feasibility of this maneuver is the whole reason John went into space with Farscape One. By the conclusion of the pilot, he proves his theory using Moya, with Aeryn Sun piloting and him doing the calculations on the floor, using the maneuver to escape the Peacekeepers.
** He performs the maneuver several times throughout the series, trying to recreate the accident that sent him to that part of space. The only thing he knows is that it involved this maneuver and a solar flare.

Of course, pulling a successful Slingshot maneuver would require some precise maneuvering and calculations, but often in fiction it's entirely possible for the AcePilot to just eyeball it.[[note]]It also requires a second, more massive body nearby, or else you'll only wind up in orbit, at best. The energy to launch you into space can't come from nowhere; it has to come from the body you're slingshoting around spiraling towards something bigger.[[/note]] Because the pilot is just that good.

* ''Film/KamenRiderXSuperSentaiSuperHeroTaisen'' has KamenRiderFourze and [[Series/TokumeiSentaiGoBusters Red Buster and Blue Buster]] piloting the Double Rocket Drill Go-Buster-Oh around Saturn to slingshot around and deliver a [[FinishingMove Rider Kick]] onto Big Machine.

[[folder: TableTopGames]]
* ''{{TabletopGame/Starfire}}'', Nexus magazine #2 article "Incidents from the First Terran-Khanate War". When a Terran ship first encountered a ship of the Khanate of Orion, the Terran commander was under orders to obtain information about the other side before leaving. He altered course to make a tight high-speed parabolic course around a nearby Khanate planet so he could scan it and use the planet's gravity to return to the warp point at maximum speed. He had to fight (and destroy) a Khanate ship while performing this maneuver.

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* The ''VideoGame/StarControl'' games features [[TwoDSpace top-down 2D maps]] where two ships at a time duke it out, usually complete with a planet in the middle to act as a hazard and a gravity well. Using the planet's gravity to slingshot yourself across the map (or to trap an enemy ship) is a cornerstone of the game's combat style.
* A DifficultButAwesome way of saving fuel in VideoGame/KerbalSpaceProgram.

In RealLife, gravity assists are a well known and often used phenomenon and have far wider applications (and limitations) than those depicted in fiction. TheOtherWiki does a good job explaining the ramification.

* Inverted with the aerobraking maneuver in ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'', used to reduce the Leonov's speed so it can enter Jupiter's orbit.

* Inverted with the aerocapture maneuver in ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'', in this case used to reduce the Leonov's speed so it can enter Jupiter's orbit.

* The aerocapture maneuver in ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'', in this case used to reduce the Leonov's speed so it can enter Jupiter's orbit.

Of course, pulling a successful Slingshot maneuver would require some precise maneuvering and calculations, but often in fiction it's entirely possible for the AcePilot to just eyeball it.[[note]]It also requires a second, more massive body nearby, or else you'll only wind up in orbit, at best. The energy to launch you into space can't come from nowhere; it has to come from the body your slingshoting around spiraling towards something bigger.[[/note]] Because the pilot is just that good.

* A DifficultButAwesome way of saving fuel in KerbalSpaceProgram.

Of course, pulling a successful Slingshot maneuver would require some precise maneuvering and calculations, but often in fiction it's entirely possible for the AcePilot to just eyeball it.[[hottip:*:It also requires a second, more massive body nearby, or else you'll only wind up in orbit, at best. The energy to launch you into space can't come from nowhere; it has to come from the body your slingshoting around spiraling towards something bigger.]] Because the pilot is just that good.

Often used as an EstablishingCharacterMoment if it occurs early in the work, to show the AcePilot's skills. If calculations are made, it might act as such a moment for TheSmartGuy too.

* In the ''Film/LostInSpace'' movie, time travel has taught Professor Robinson that they can't escape the gravity of the collapsing planet -- but he figures out that they can escape it by diving through it as it's breaking up. Another character (Major West) does the driving, tho.

Of course, pulling a successful Slingshot maneuver would require some precise maneuvering and calculations, but often in fiction it's entirely possible for the AcePilot to just eyeball it. Because the pilot is just that good.

* In one of the ''{{Futurama}}'' comics Leela did this with the Planet Express ship to avoid being late to class, unfortunately destabilizing the star she sling-shot around.

In RealLife, gravity assists are a well known and often used phenomenon and have far wider applications (and limitations) than those depicted in fiction. The OtherWiki does a good job explaining the ramification.

* RealLife: Apollo 13-the service module was too damaged to fire for a direct abort, and the lunar module engine didn't have enough power. Only a slingshot maneuver around the moon, assisted by the lunar module engines, could get them on a course for home. Granted, they were already on a semi-slingshot course, but since they'd left the 'free return trajectory' from earlier missions and would have missed Earth without it, it still likely counts. Depicted in the ''{{Apollo 13}}'' movie.

** A Slingshot maneuver around Jupiter is attempted by O'Neill and Teal'c, but the attempt fails as the rockets they used lacked thrust.
** The Odyssey successfully pulls one around a blackhole, after goading a Wraith Hive Ship to follow them, they make it, while the Hive Ship has no such luck due to the Odyssey using the fact that the black hole is messing their systems to beam a nuke inside the ship.
* ''Series/StargateUniverse'', one of Destiny's shuttle attempts the maneuver around a planet to catch up to Destiny itself.

* ''{{Andromeda}}'' starts this way. They attempt to slingshot around a black hole but sabotage leaves them stranded in orbit so close to the black hole that from their point of view a few seconds went by, while a whole 300 years passed in the rest of the galaxy.
* Integral to the pilot of ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. Proving the feasability of this maneuver is the whole reason John went into space with Farscape One. By the conclusion of the pilot, he proves his theory using Moya, with Aeryn Sun piloting and him doing the calculations on the floor, using the maneuver to escape the Peacekeepers.

[[folder:Literature]]
* Used a few times in the ''StarWarsExpandedUniverse'':
** Han Solo has the ''Millennium Falcon'' does this to escape the GeniusLoci in ''StarWars: Galaxy of Fear''. He lampshades this by calling it the "oldest trick in the manual."
** A semi-regular appearance during the Yuuzhan Vong War where the maneuver is called a ''[[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Solo_Slingshot Solo Slingshot]]''. Implying Han Solo was the first to do it.
* Combined with a WronskiFeint in ''[[Literature/TheFlightEngineer The Privateer]]'' by JamesDoohan and S.M. Sterling. The damaged light carrier ''Invincible'' has a [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Mollie]] flotilla in hot pursuit, so it heads for a recently discovered system that has a pulsar perilously close to the jump point. Since they're expecting it, they're able to slingshot around the pulsar and back to the jump point to escape. The Mollies aren't so lucky; they end up smeared across its surface with their very atoms crushed into degenerate matter.
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* Integral to the plot of ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. Proving the feasability of this maneuver is the whole reason John went into space with Farscape One. By the conclusion of the pilot, he proves his theory using Moya, with Aeryn Sun piloting and him doing the calculations on the floor, using the maneuver to escape the Peacekeepers.

* ''StarTrek:''
** Warp-powered gravitational slingshots are used a method of time travel in the franchise, especially in ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' and ''StarTrekIV''.
** Conventional slingshots without time travels feature in ''StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Beyond the Farthest Star" and ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Booby Trap".
** One episode of ''StarTrekVoyager'' had Janeway attempting to drive an alien force that had been experimenting on her crew off by flying between a pair of pulsars. Tuvok remarks that it's a far more reckless course of action than he'd come to expect from her. The aliens leave rather than face the pulsars, but ''Voyager'' flies through, counting on their momentum to help them escape. Once they're safe on the other side, Janeway remarks she didn't know Tuvok thought she was reckless, to which he responds, "Poor choice of words, Captain. It was clearly an understatement."

* ''StargateUniverse'', one of Destiny's shuttle attempts the maneuver around a planet to catch up to Destiny itself.

* In the ''LostInSpace'' movie, time travel has taught Professor Robinson that they can't escape the gravity of the collapsing planet -- but he figures out that they can escape it by diving through it as it's breaking up. Another character (Major West) does the driving, tho.