An orbiter is a vehicle or device that travels around a planet or moon in space without landing on its surface. Specifically, in aerospace, an orbiter can refer to a spacecraft designed to travel in orbit around a celestial body, such as the Space Shuttle orbiter which carried astronauts and payloads into low Earth orbit and then returned to Earth by landing as a glider.
The term can also have slang meanings outside of space context, referring to a person who stays around someone they are attracted to but without progressing to a relationship, but in a strict technical sense, it relates to orbiting spacecraft.
