aerostation

1. (obsolete, uncountable) Aerial navigation; the act or science of raising and guiding balloons in the air.obsoleteuncountable

2. (archaic, countable) A flight or expedition by hot-air balloon.Examples: "The balloon ascension advertised by Mr. Wise, the celebrated aeronaut of forty aerostations, took place in this borough on Saturday last."; "As he notes, the spread of aerostations testifies to the effectiveness of Enlightenment networks at disseminating information: Most of the early aeronauts had never seen an ascension with their own eyes, but they built their balloons based on the descriptions given by their written sources (19)."; "After a moment she gave an excited gasp. "Look! Oh, do look! It's a balloon!" Mr. Richmond sat forward sharply. "One of those infernal aerostations?” he growled."archaiccountable

3. (obsolete, uncountable) The science of weighing air; aerostatics.obsoleteuncountable

4. (countable, chiefly science fiction) A floating or elevated station.Examples: "It is expected that an analysis of the fist year's records will lead to a clear decision as to whether or not to engage in the second phase of the research, which will comprise a re-arrangement of the survey stations on a finer geographical pattern and the collection of design data for aerostations."; "Seaborne aerostations could be anchored in the strong windbelts which exist in many areas of the world, for example, off the north-east part of the U.S.A."; "... everywhere—in the streets, on the sidewalks, in the abandoned pathways of the slums and the huge boulevards of the megacities, inside makeshift shelters, Recyclo particleboard houses, prefabricated houses, Combi-cubes, luxury hotels-turned-superprotected bunkers, malls-turned-colonies, office buildings taken over by hordes of migrants, aerostations, factories, ports, docks, dikes, breakwaters, cartels of floating houses, offshore cities, clusters of drilling platforms, cargo ships and ocean liners-turned-nautical cities— the scene is identical, ..."countable